Pfizer also working to improve its current COVID-19 vaccine ‘to address any future variant of potential concern, if needed’<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
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WEDNESDAY, Jan. 12, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Pfizer Inc. said Tuesday that a COVID-19 vaccine that specifically targets the omicron variant will be ready by March.<\/p>\n
The company has already started making the new version of the vaccine, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told CNBC<\/em>‘s “Squawk Box,” CBS News<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n Pfizer is also working to improve its current COVID-19 vaccine “to address any future variant of potential concern, if needed,” a company spokesperson said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch<\/em>. “In the event that a third dose with the current vaccine is not found to protect against the omicron variant or other future variants, Pfizer expects to be able to develop and produce a tailor-made vaccine against that variant in approximately 100 days, subject to regulatory approval,” the spokesperson added.<\/p>\n Also on Monday, Moderna said in a statement<\/a> that it is also developing an omicron-specific vaccine, CBS News<\/em> reported. “Given the long-term threat demonstrated by omicron’s immune escape, Moderna will continue to develop an omicron-specific variant vaccine that it expects to advance into clinical trials in early 2022,” the company stated.<\/p>\n In the meantime, booster shots remain the best defense against omicron, experts said. A recent study<\/a> from the U.K. Health Security Agency revealed that booster shots are up to 75 percent effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 infection caused by omicron.<\/p>\n