Pfizer CEO Says Company Will Have Omicron Vaccine By March If Needed

Sumaira FH Published December 07, 2021 | 08:49 PM

Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said Tuesday that his company expects to know in several weeks whether a vaccine will be needed for the coronavirus Omicron variant and doses will likely be available by March

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th December, 2021) Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said Tuesday that his company expects to know in several weeks whether a vaccine will be needed for the coronavirus Omicron variant and doses will likely be available by March.

"I think that if there is a need for the vaccine, we will have a vaccine in March," Bourla said in a live-streamed discussion on the Omicron variant and vaccine efficiency, hosted by the Wall Street Journal. "I don't know if there will be a need for a vaccine. You'll know ... in a few weeks what we need to do."

The Omicron was first detected on November 24 in South Africa. Initial studies have shown it to be potentially more transmissible than other variants. However, South African Health officials have said Omicron was detected in vaccinated individuals and the cases were mild.

In recent appraisals, health experts, including Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, have said the effects of Omicron appeared to be less severe than initially thought.

Bourla said he expected virologists to have a better understanding by the year-end of the Omicron's clinical behavior.

"We will know, unfortunately, within a few weeks because now we have, let's say, cases in the dozens," Bourla said. "In a few weeks, we'll have a million. So I think we will have a good understanding, let's say before the year-end, as to what exactly it means for clinical manifestation."

World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday thanked South Africa for promptly alerting the world about Omicron, but also expressed disappointment that some countries hastily imposed travel restrictions on countries in southern Africa without a more detailed study of the new variant.