Pfizer chief scientist interview: Omicron's threat to vaccines - Business Insider

Experts generally do not anticipate that Omicron will completely evade all protection from the current shots.

But other variants of concern, including the Beta and Delta strains, have shown they can diminish vaccine protection.

Laboratory tests, which will likely come out over the next week or two, could also show the vaccines holding up well enough against Omicron, Dolsten said.

"We remain cautiously optimistic that our current vaccine with the boost can provide meaningful protection," he said. .

If Omicron does become the world's dominant variant, new vaccines will need to be distributed everywhere.

The Beta variant previously spooked scientists by showing the ability to significantly degrade the vaccine response.

"It's still too early to understand whether Omicron has the same transmissible ability as Delta to become a pandemic strain, or if it will be similar to the Beta strain that started in South Africa but really became a local epidemic and more or less vanished," Dolsten said. .

Beta fizzled out, and the current vaccines held up well enough against Delta

If the worst-case scenario of Omicron defeating the current vaccines does come to fruition, Dolsten said, Pfizer will be ready