Vaccine-makers are already adapting vaccines to fight the omicron coronavirus variant, but it will probably already have swept the world by the time these arrive
Health
| Analysis
30 November 2021
A health worker holds a vial of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine CHAMILA KARUNARATHNE/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Is omicron better at evading existing vaccines than older coronavirus variants? Vaccine-makers are racing to produce omicron-specific versions, just in case. But if omicron is as transmissible as some fear, it could rapidly sweep around the world, triggering another wave of covid-19 cases before people can be protected with an updated vaccine.
mRNA vaccines can be updated more quickly than other types of vaccine, and the two main manufacturers of the covid-19 mRNA vaccines, Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, say they will …