Pharma giant Pfizer is looking forward to launch a coronavirus vaccine that would specifically target the omicron and other related variants. The new vaccine is expected to be out by March, 2022. Currently the omicron variant is constantly proving to be a big threat due to its highly contagious nature. More and more people in close vicinity are fast getting infected.
A spokesperson from Pfizer while talking to a leading daily has informed that they have already started work on the DNA template that has been tailored to the sequence of the omicron. The spokesperson added that it is a critical step towards the process of finding a variant version of the vaccine. It has also been specified that manufacturing a variant vaccine is a risk as they did with beta and delta variants earlier. The recent announcement has come after the company had earlier said that it would come up with a tailor-made vaccine that would work against the omicron variant in nearly 100 days. It was added that it would be subject to the approval amidst a time when the third dose of the current BNT162b2 vaccine is not found to protect against the omicron and other variants.
Albert Bourla, the CEO of Pfizer announced about the March, 2022 timeline during an interview on January 10, 2022. Earlier in January, 2022, the Food and Drug Administration gave approval to Pfizer and BioNTech to expand the emergency use authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for the individuals 12 years of age and older. Moreover, the FDA has also reduced the time between the second dose and booster dose from at least six months to five months.
The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has informed that nearly 74.5 million Americans have received their booster doses for COVID. Moreover, Pfizer and BioNTech delivered nearly 1 billion doses of COVID-19 to the low and middle income countries.
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