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Omicron: Moderna Says Its Covid Booster Appears To Protect Against Omicron, Shares Jump
December 20, 2021
January 7, 2022
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel on Thursday said the efficacy of boosters against Covid-19 will likely decline over time, and people may need a fourth shot in the fall to increase their protection. Bancel said people who received their boosters last fall will likely have enough protection to get them through the winter when new infections surge as people gather indoors to escape the cold.
An unprecedented surge of infections from the highly contagious omicron variant is currently spreading worldwide. In the U.S., the seven-day average is now more than 574,000 new cases daily, according to a CNBC analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.
“We have been saying that we believe first this virus is not going away,” Bancel said. “We’re going to have to live with it.”
The same study, published by the U.K. Health Security Agency, found that booster doses are up to 75% effective at preventing symptomatic infection two weeks after receiving the shot.
However, the efficacy of booster shots starts to decline after about four weeks, according to the study. Boosters were 55% to 70% effective at preventing infection at weeks five to nine, and 40% to 50% effective 10 weeks after receiving the shot.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said last month that people will likely need a fourth dose, and the shot may be needed sooner than expected due to omicron’s virulence.
Bancel, during the Goldman Sachs interview, said omicron could accelerate the transition from the acute crisis caused by the virus to an endemic phase where enough people have immune protection so that Covid isn’t as disruptive to public life.
However, he also cautioned against predictions, noting that omicron, with its dozens of mutations, took most of the scientific community by surprise. The data so far indicates that omicron is more transmissible but less severe than past strains.
However, a random mutation could change the course of the pandemic again, Bancel said.
“What is totally impossible to predict, is there a new mutation coming in a day, a week, three months that is worse in terms of severity of disease,” he said. “That’s a piece that we’ll have to just be cautious about.”
SOURCE: CNBC
IMAGE SOURCE: PIXABAY
