Moderna’s CEO, Stephane Bancel, has warned that the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 could be resistant to the current vaccines on the market.
In an interview with the Financial Times this week, the CEO said that there is going to be a “material drop” in the efficacy of current vaccines — but that they’ll have to wait for more data before they know exactly how much less effective they’ll be. He also said that he has talked to scientists who have warned that the new variant is “not going to be good.”
Part of the concern is that scientists have seen a cluster of mutations in the variant, which could make it more effective at surviving an immune-system response.
Health officials have taken a more cautious approach to discuss the variant. President Joe Biden said that it is a “cause for concern, not a cause for panic.”
The Omicron variant, which was first detected in South Africa, is the fifth to be named a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization.
