The British scientist in charge of research into the Oxford / AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine said today that a new vaccine could be made “very quickly” against the new Omicron variant.
Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, expressed moderate optimism that existing vaccines could be effective in preventing severe Omicron variant disease.
He told the BBC’s Today program that while it may take weeks for scientists to fully understand the effects of Omicron mutations, most of them are similar to those found in other variants.
“Although these mutations exist in other variants, vaccines still prevent serious thinking as we move from Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta,” he said.
“At least speculating, we are quite optimistic that the vaccine will be effective against a new variant preventing serious disease, but we really need to wait many weeks to confirm it.”
As the professor pointed out, “it is extremely unlikely that a pandemic resurgence will occur in the vaccinated population, as we saw last year.”
Asked if vaccines could be upgraded if necessary, Pollard said: “The process of making a new vaccine is becoming more and more effective. So if it is needed, it can be done very quickly.”
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