As Moderna, other pharmas claim booster dose, know about vaccines in race to fight Omicron

With the world dealing with tensions caused by the spread of the Coronavirus variant, Omicron, intense discussions are happening on the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines against the ‘highly mutated’ variant, which has been termed a 'Variant of Concern.' As soon as Omicron was characterised in late November, many pharma companies started gearing up to produce millions of doses in the next phase of fighting the virus. The goal of the effort is to customise a COVID booster dose in order to combat the highly mutated virus 'in less than 100 days.'

To pacify the rampant spread of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID causing virus), many companies across various countries are building vaccines using conventional as well as modern methods to fast-track their development. Companies like Bharat Biotech (Covaxin), and Novovax's vaccine are developed using conventional methods, while the vaccines built by Moderna, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Sputnik-V and AstraZeneca and Oxford University are built with the help of modern methods. 

In addition to testing how well their current shots fight against the new variant, Moderna has pledged to 'rapidly advance on Omicron-specific booster candidate'. Pfizer has also claimed that it would have one available by the month of March, while Johnson & Johnson has said that it 'is pursuing an Omicron-specific variant vaccine.' Novavax that has filed for authorisation, however, whose vaccine is not yet available in the US, has said in a statement that its Omicron-targeted offering will be 'ready to begin testing and manufacturing within the next few weeks.'

Speaking about Covaxin, Aasra Hospital Chairman Dr Jagadish Hiremath said that since the vaccine is 'manufactured using Whole-Virion Inactivated Vero Cell (consists the whole dead-virus)', it 'may show better endurance and response against the new Omicron variant which consists of a large number of mutations on the spike protein which helps the virus to potentially develop an 'immune-escape mechanism'.'

Names of COVID vaccines that are developed by companies

• Pfizer (BioNTech)
• Moderna
• Oxford- AstraZeneca
• Sputnik V (Gamaleya)
• Johnson & Johnson (Janssen)
• CoronaVac (Sinovac)
• Sinopharm
• Covaxin (Bharat Biotech)
• Novavax

To date, India has recorded 161 Omicron cases registered. The nation has vaccinated more than 60% of the population with over 138 crore doses of the COVID vaccine having been administered. 

Image: PTI/@adroman/Pixabay/Representative