Laboratory analyzes should provide first more detailed information on the effectiveness of the vaccines against Omikron in the course of the next few weeks.
(Photo: dpa)
Frankfurt The omicron variant of the coronavirus discovered in South Africa presents vaccine manufacturers with new challenges and gives an additional boost to the race that has already started in the development of modified Covid vaccines.
Whether and how quickly vaccine modifications against the new virus variant will actually be required remains open for the time being. It is still unclear whether and how much the changes in the virus really reduce the protective effect of the previous vaccines.
At least the suspicion seems well founded. The around 30 mutations observed in the omicron variant only affect around two percent of the more than 1,300 amino acids that make up the complicated surface protein of the virus. However, according to South African scientists, the mutations include several changes that are known to increase transferability or undermine immune protection.
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