Pharmaceutical companies rush to reformulate vaccines, just in case

Pharmaceuticals are rushing to update their COVID-19 vaccines in the face of the latest coronavirus threat, although it is not yet clear whether the change is necessary.

Experts doubt that the vaccines available today will be outdated, but argue that it is vital to see how quickly companies can produce a reformulated dose and prove that it works, because whatever happens with omicron, this variant of the virus will not be the one. last.

Ómicron “is activating the fire alarm. If it turns out to be a false alarm, it would be great to know if we really can do it, get a new vaccine and be prepared, “said immunologist E. John Wherry of the University of Pennsylvania.

It is too early to know how vaccines will react to omicron. The first indications this week are mixed: Preliminary laboratory tests suggest that two doses of the formula developed by Pfizer-BioNTech may not prevent you from contracting the variant, but may develop severe COVID-19. And a booster dose could boost immunity enough to do both.

Better responses are expected in a matter of weeks, and regulators in the United States and other countries are closely monitoring the situation. The World Health Organization has appointed an independent scientific committee to advise on the need to reformulate vaccines due to omicron or any other mutation.

But the authorities have not yet determined what would cause such a drastic step: Would it happen if the protection offered by the vaccine against the development of a severe case of the disease is lowered or if the new variant simply spreads more quickly?

“This is not trivial,” said Ugur Sahin, CEO of BioNTech, Pfizer’s partner, shortly before the omicron discovery. A pharmaceutical company could request the commercialization of a new formula “but what happens if another company makes another proposal with another variant? We do not have an agreed strategy ”.

This is a difficult decision and the virus advances faster than science. This fall, US government advisers on vaccines wondered why the booster doses weren’t modified to target the much more contagious delta variant before the new mutation, omicron, appeared. , which does not descend directly or be closely related to its predecessor.

___

Associated Press journalist Jamey Keaten contributed to this report.

___

The Associated Press Department of Health and Science receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.