Covid Omicron diagnosed in Europe 11 days ago, jolts markets on vaccine fears

On Tuesday, the CEO of drugmaker Moderna (MRNA.O) raised additional concerns in financial markets with a warning that existing COVID-19 vaccinations will be less successful against the new Omicron form than they had been against the Delta variant.

Stephane Bancel’s statements sparked fears that vaccine resistance could extend the pandemic.

Bancel told in an interview that “There is no world, I think, where (the effectiveness) is the same level. We had with Delta

He continued “I think it’s going to be a material drop. I just don’t know how much because we need to wait for the data. But all the scientists I’ve talked to are like ‘this is not going to be good,”

Read more: First Omicron case detected in Japan

However, European Medicines Agency (EMA) executive director Emer Cooke told the European Parliament that existing vaccines will continue to provide protection even if the new version becomes more widespread. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) chair Andrea Ammon said 42 cases of the variation had been confirmed in ten EU nations.

The University of Oxford said there was no evidence that current vaccines would not protect against severe  Covid Omicron disease, but it was prepared to develop a revised version of its shot, which it developed with AstraZeneca (AZN.L), as soon as possible if necessary.

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