Vaccines likely to be less effective against the Omicron variant says Moderna CEO

Several top Moderna officials have warned that the newest coronavirus variant of concern could undo some of the gains of mass vaccination

Indian students apply the finishing touches to paintings created to raise awareness of the variant in Mumbai. Reuters

International travellers wearing personal protective equipment arrive at Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport as Australia records its first cases of the Omicron variant. AFP

A greeting at the international terminal of Sydney Airport, as countries respond to the new variant. Reuters

A sign asking people to wear face coverings in a building in Manhattan as the newly discovered Omicron variant appears in countries around the world. AFP

Tourists wave as the ‘Europa’ passenger liner arrives in South African waters off Cape Town as the new coronavirus variant Omicron spreads in other countries. Reuters

Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. Dutch health authorities said they have found another case of the Omicron Covid-19 variant among passengers arriving from South Africa, bringing the country’s total to 14. AFP

Pupils wear face masks in Beijing. Despite the global worry, scientists say it remains unclear whether the Omicron variant is more dangerous than other strains of the virus. AP

People wearing face masks in Manhattan. New York's governor has declared a state of emergency due to the risk of a surge of Covid-19 cases as winter sets in. AFP

British Health Secretary Sajid Javid meets a member of staff at a vaccine centre in Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, London. Getty Images

A sign points the way to a Covid-19 test centre at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands. AFP

Narita International Airport in Japan is quiet after travel was restricted to prevent the spread of Omicron. Reuters

A PCR test at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. AFP

Soekarno Hatta International airport. Indonesia has banned the arrival of travellers who have recently been in eight southern African countries. Reuters

Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok after Thailand banned entry from eight southern African countries due to the Omicron variant. Reuters

Travellers wear personal protective equipment outside the international terminal at Sydney Airport, Australia. Reuters

Passengers wearing protective gear at Incheon International Airport in South Korea, where health authorities have imposed an entry ban on foreign arrivals from eight African countries, including South Africa. EPA

Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv. The Israeli government approved a 14-day ban on foreign arrivals over concerns about Omicron. EPA

Travellers queuing in the hope of boarding an overbooked Lufthansa flight at Cape Town International Airport. Antonie Robertson / The National

Covid-stricken Czech President Milos Zeman sits in a plastic cage as he appoints Petr Fiala as Prime Minister, near Prague. AFP

Tourists checking in at Cape Town International Airport in South Africa. Antonie Robertson / The National

Several airlines have stopped flying out of South Africa amid the spread of the new variant, causing disruption at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. Reuters

Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. Two cases of the recently discovered Omicron variant were detected in New South Wales. EPA

Passengers, many not wearing face coverings, on the London Underground. Health Secretary Sajid Javid said mandatory mask-wearing would return to shops and public transport in England but there are concerns over how the rule will be enforced. AFP

A stroll, with face masks, in Biarritz, south-western France. French Health Minister Olivier Veran said France had no confirmed cases of the Omicron variant and was not changing its strategy of increasing vaccinations and booster shots. AP

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty during a press conference on the variant in London. Reuters

Live updates: follow the latest news on Covid-19 variant Omicron

Covid-19 vaccines are unlikely to be as effective against the Omicron variant of the coronavirus as they have been against the Delta variant, the head of one of the world's largest drug makers and a producer of one of the vaccines used to tackle the pandemic has warned.

Stephane Bancel said that drug makers would likely have to tweak and adjust their vaccines to be effective against the new strain, a process that could take months.

"There is no world, I think, where [the effectiveness] is the same level … we had with Delta," the Moderna chief executive told the Financial Times.

"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'."

Mr Bancel said the concern over Omicron was because 32 of the 50 mutations in the variant are on the protein spike that the virus uses to infect human cells. Current vaccines focus on this to provide protection.

Experts had not expected such a highly mutated variant to emerge so soon after the discovery of Covid-19.

At the weekend, Moderna's chief medical officer Paul Burton made similar comments to the company CEO as he warned that, "I think this is a very concerning virus."

"These mutations – at least 30 of them in the spike protein alone, nine of them known to be associated with immune escape, and another 11 are predicted to be associated with immune escape," Mr Burton told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show on Sunday.

The current vaccines from companies, including Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Sinopharm are all able to help reduce the risk of severe infection and death from the previous strains of the virus, though they work less well against the more transmissible Delta variant.

Scientists are still working to determine if Omicron causes the same level of illness as previous versions of the virus, if it can evade the immunity provided by vaccines and previous infections, and if it will be able to outcompete the existing strains as the pathogen continues to circulate throughout the world.

Mr Bancel said that it was a matter of logistics and timing to get tweaked jabs ready in large quantities.

“[Moderna] and Pfizer cannot get a billion doses next week. The maths doesn’t work. But could we get the billion doses out by the summer? Sure,” he said.

He predicted Moderna could make two to three billion doses next year but that it would be risky to completely change all production to focus on this new variant when others could emerge or are already in circulation.

Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla said they could bring out a vaccine that targets Omicron within 100 days if needed.

However, Pfizer board member Scott Gottlieb said, "There’s a reasonable degree of confidence in vaccine circles that [with] at least three doses … the patient is going to have fairly good protection against this variant.”

The World Health Organisation has said that the Omicron variant, which was first detected in South Africa, carries a "very high" risk of infection surges even though doctors say that the symptoms they are seeing are strange but less severe than other variants.

Omicron has triggered global alarm, with border closures casting a shadow over a nascent economic recovery from a two-year pandemic.

The WHO has urged countries to use a "risk-based approach to adjust international travel measures" as countries impose curbs and new restrictions.

The global curbs have, however, triggered concerns about vaccine inequality.

"The people of Africa cannot be blamed for the immorally low level of vaccinations available in Africa – and they should not be penalised for identifying and sharing crucial science and health information with the world," UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said.

India, home to the world's largest vaccine maker, has approved supplies of Covid-19 vaccines to many African countries and said it stands ready to "expeditiously" send more.

China too has pledged a billion doses to the continent.

Additional reporting by agencies