EU member states have ordered more than 180 million doses of the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine adapted to the Omicron variant, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Politico on Thursday night.
Speaking to reporters after the European Council meeting, the president of the Commission said that EU leaders had activated clauses in the contract signed with vaccine manufacturers that allow them to request the development of a custom vaccine within 100 days.
The EMA (European Medicines Agency), Von der Layen added, is working on a rapid evaluation of the modified vaccine.
The rapidly spreading Omicron coronavirus variant was able to bypass both vaccination doses, although booster doses provide some immunity, the site said.
The custom vaccines will be specially designed to provide immunological protection against the variant, which is now quite different from the original coronavirus, so that existing vaccines are significantly less effective.
Health experts from the United Kingdom, which is currently the country with the most cases in Europe, estimate that every person infected with the variant continues to infect another three to five people on average. The country reported a record 88,376 new cases of coronavirus on Thursday.
G7 health ministers have described the Omicron variant as “the biggest threat to global public health”.
Speaking to ANT1, Pfizer CEO Albert Burla also said that Pfizer has already begun making a vaccine for the Omicron mutation. He stressed, however, that although it will be ready in March, it may not need to be available, as current vaccines are strong against the new coronavirus variant.
politico.eu
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