Does the world need an Omicron vaccine? What researchers say

A health-care worker in Lima, Peru, prepares to administer a dose of a messenger-RNA-based COVID-19 vaccine., vaccine makers quickly began developing shots against the highly mutated and transmissible virus. This week, pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and biotechnology company Moderna both announced that they had initiated clinical trials in which they are dosing people with Omicron-based vaccines.

The influenza group meets twice per year to recommend the composition of the next season’s vaccine, and national regulators and authorities typically follow the WHO’s guidance. So far, no such global structure exists for COVID-19. And until Omicron, it wasn’t needed. Vaccine makers based their initial COVID-19 jabs on the SARS-CoV-2 strain first detected in Wuhan, China. But the original virus’s biology differs notably from Omicron’s, which contains more than 30 mutations in key regions of its genome.

The protection provided by a booster also wanes quickly, studies show: UK data suggest that effectiveness against hospitalization drops from

Doesn't need!!

Given how well regular boosters do with it maybe not, but eventually we'll need updated boosters. It's probably better to do this now & figure out a framework of how to update the vaccine before we really need too.

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