Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca announced that it is working with Oxford University to produce a vaccine against the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Thus, the Anglo-Swedish company joined other vaccine manufacturers seeking to develop variant-specific vaccines.
The company released the following statement on Tuesday:
“Together with the University of Oxford, we have taken the first steps to produce a vaccine against the Omicron variant, for use if needed, and based on emerging data.”
Research so far has shown that current vaccines may offer less protection against the Omicron variant than other variants.
There is still no consensus among scientists around the world on whether a vaccine specifically targeting Omicron is necessary.
Vaccine manufacturers Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna have also previously announced that they are working on Omicron-specific Covid vaccines. Moderna reports that it hopes to begin clinical trials early next year.
The Financial Times (FT) was the first to report the news, citing Sandy Douglas, head of a research group at Oxford.
Contrary to old thinking, adenovirus-based vaccines like Oxford/AstraZeneca’s vaccine could in principle be used faster to respond to any new variant, Douglas told the FT.
A lab study last week found that AstraZeneca’s antibody cocktail Evusheld retained neutralizing activity against the Omicron variant.