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New Delhi: Amid the rising concerns over the new covid variant, Omicron, Bharat Biotech on Tuesday said that the company is studying whether its indegenously developed Covaxin will work against the new variant or not. “Covaxin was developed against the original Wuhan variant,” the spokesperson told Reuters in a text message, referring to the Chinese city where the virus first emerged.
This comes after Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel warned that the existing Covid-19 vaccines would be less effective against the Omicron variant than they have been against the Delta variant.
According to the reports, Moderna and fellow drugmakers BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson are working on vaccines that specifically target Omicron in case existing shots are not effective against it. Moderna has also been testing a higher dose of its existing booster.
To recall, Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla also in an interview with Bloomberg Television had said that it will be clear in two to three weeks how well its current shot holds up against omicron — and even in a worst-case scenario he expects the existing formula will retain some efficacy.
Research is still underway to determine if omicron causes the same level of illness as older versions of the virus, if it can evade protection from vaccines and previous infections, and if it will be able to outcompete the existing strains as the pathogen continues to circulate throughout the world.
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