Do we need a new COVID-19 vaccine for ommicron? Experts weigh in

AN Study from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published in September, found that when the delta variant became dominant in the summer, unvaccinated people were 4½ times more likely to get infected, 10 times more likely to be hospitalized and 11 times more likely to get infected. death from COVID-19, compared to vaccinated individuals.

In other words, the existing vaccines worked against the delta variant.

“So there was no need to produce and roll out a variant vaccine at that time,” specifically for delta, Moore said. “That’s a huge, I mean, huge investment, if you have to start making new products and have it reviewed by the FDA, even if it’s an expedited procedure,” he said, referring to the Food and Drug Administration.

The beta variant, first identified in South Africa, was another strain once thought to need an updated version of the vaccine. The existing vaccines were indeed significantly less protective against infection with beta, but the variant never spread widely in North America, Europe and other parts of the world like Delta did, he said. It may have needed to develop a shot for beta, but the variant didn’t take off, he added.

“That’s the key unknown to ommicron,” Moore said. “Is omicron going to look like beta and not surpass delta and just fade away or will it be a super version of delta and something we should really be concerned about?”

“Whether or not they should roll out a new vaccine depends on a significant number of unknowns that will emerge in the coming weeks,” he said.

The World Health Organisation said last week that preliminary evidence suggested “an increased risk of reinfection with this variant, as compared to other variants of concern. The new strain also has mutations associated with higher transmissibility and possibly reduced antibody protection, it said.

Jerica Pitts, a spokesperson for Pfizer, said none of the previous variants escaped vaccine protection in lab studies or real-world observations. When considering whether to ask the FDA to approve a new vaccine, the company said it must first understand that it can “neutralize the variant” in lab studies.

The company said it also needs to see if omicron can surpass the delta outside the region current hotspot in South Africa or if its rapid spread in the country is “an isolated case”.

dr. Michel Nussenzweig, an immunologist at Rockefeller University in New York, said that if health officials see a significant increase in the number of vaccinated people hospitalized with COVID-19, there would be “good reason” for a variant-specific launch a vaccine.

But that’s “not clear yet,” he wrote in an email. “No real data is available, just a guess based on the reporting rate of the series, which is increasing quite rapidly, and the data about viruses with related mutations.”

Even if the vaccines take a hit against omicron, Moore said, the chances of a variant “blowing away all vaccine immunity are very, very, very slim.”

“If there is a worst-case scenario, you would expect more infections in vaccinated people, but you wouldn’t expect a huge increase in deaths because there would still be some protective immunity.”

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