A gas station attendant stands next to a newspaper headline in Pretoria, South Africa, on Saturday. The new omicron variant has spread from South Africa to parts of Europe, and as far as Hong Kong.
Denis Farrell/AP
hide caption
toggle caption
Denis Farrell/AP
A gas station attendant stands next to a newspaper headline in Pretoria, South Africa, on Saturday. The new omicron variant has spread from South Africa to parts of Europe, and as far as Hong Kong.
Denis Farrell/AP
A new strain of COVID-19 first discovered in South Africa was declared a variant of concern by the World Health Organization on Friday. Here’s how the pharmaceutical industry plans to address the latest coronavirus curve ball.
Vaccine makers are already pivoting their efforts to combat the new variant: testing higher doses of booster shots, designing new boosters that anticipate strain mutations, and developing omicron-specific boosters.
In a statement sent to NPR, Moderna said it has been working on a comprehensive strategy to predict variants of concern since the beginning of 2021. One approach is to double the current booster from 50 to 100 micrograms. Secondly, the vaccine maker has been studying two booster vaccines that are designed to anticipate mutations like those found in the omicron variant. The company also said it will ramp up efforts to make a booster candidate that specifically targets omicron.
“From the beginning, we have said that as we seek to defeat the pandemic, it is imperative that we…