COVID-19: BioNTech CEO Says ‘Don’t Panic’ About Omicron Because Pfizer Vaccine Likely Protects Against Severe Disease From Variant | world News

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The Pfizer vaccine is likely to provide powerful protection against any serious illness from the new Omicron COVID variant, according to the BioNTech chief who urged people not to ‘horrify’.

BioNTech has developed one of the most widely used methods in the world using Pfizer, and CEO and founder Ugur Sahin said: “In my opinion, there is no reason to be particularly alarmed.

“The only thing that worries me at the moment is the fact that there are people who haven’t been vaccinated at all.”

The BioNTech chief’s cautious confidence contrasts with more pessimistic comments by the CEO of rival vaccine maker Moderna, Stefan Bancel, who has raised the possibility of a fundamental decline in protection against the novel coronavirus strain from existing vaccines.

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0:43 Moderna and Pfizer CEOs talk about alternative Omicron

Mr Bancel said he believed Omicron, first identified by researchers in South Africa, was “highly contagious” and “very likely” that the efficacy of vaccines was decreasing – adding that boosters might need a “double” dose to provide the best protection.

But Shaheen said, “We think people are likely to be very protected against severe disease caused by Omicron.”

He defined severe illness as requiring hospitalization or intensive care.

Mr. Shaheen added that he expected lab tests over the next two weeks to show a loss of some vaccine protection against mild and moderate disease due to Omicron, but it was difficult to predict the extent of this loss.

The large number of mutations on a protein that the virus uses to infect human cells may mean that existing vaccines need to be modified.

BioNTech is currently working on an upgraded version of its original vaccine, of which more than 2 billion doses have already been delivered, although it says it remains unclear whether that is needed.

He said getting a third shot of the vaccine, or a booster dose, would likely provide protection against omicron infection of any severity compared to those who only had a two-dose dose.

More than 20 cases of the Omicron variant have been identified so far across the UK, although experts expect that number to rise in the coming days.

Shaheen acknowledged that the antibodies generated by the vaccination may struggle to attach to the new virus, but claimed that T cells, another line of immune defense, were set to recognize large fragments of the unchanged omicron spike protein.

While the antibodies bind to viruses directly and prevent infection, the long-lived T cells attack cells that have already been hijacked by the virus, preventing viral replication and severe disease.

In a separate interview, he told the Wall Street Journal, “Our message is: Don’t panic, the plan remains the same: Accelerate administration of a third booster dose.

“Our faith [that the vaccines work against Omicron] Rooted in science: If a virus achieves immune escape, it achieves it against antibodies, but there is a second level of immune response that protects against severe disease – T cells.

“Even as a kind of escape, the virus wouldn’t be able to completely evade T cells.”

Meanwhile, America’s top infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci, said it was too early to tell if an alternative Omicron would lead to serious illness — providing another example of cautious optimism.

Dr Fauci said there were 226 confirmed cases of the variant in 20 countries as of Tuesday morning but that Omicron had not yet been detected in the United States.

“It is very difficult to know whether this particular species will lead to serious disease or not,” Dr. Fauci said.

“Although some preliminary information from South Africa suggests there are no unusual symptoms…we don’t know, and it’s too soon to know.”

Albert Burla, chief executive of Pfizer, said he was “very confident” that the vaccine worked against all known mutations of the coronavirus, including Omicron.

However, he said his company has already started making a new vaccine against the alternative, adding: “In 95 days we will have a basically new vaccine.”

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Earlier, Bansel said the new strain is overtaking Delta in South Africa at a faster rate than previously seen.

“It took about four months for Delta to take over Beta, and it looks like it only took two weeks for this new variant to take over Delta,” he told CNBC.

Both he and Mr. Borla stressed that more data is needed to understand whether B.1.1.529 is more infectious or resistant to vaccines.

“Given the large number of mutations, it is very likely that the efficacy of the vaccine, all together, is declining. But we need to wait for the data to see if this is true, and how much it is declining,” said Mr. Bancel.

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