COVID-19 | Oxford and AstraZeneca already working on a vaccine designed against Omicron

The University of Oxford and the pharmaceutical AstraZeneca (AZ) are working on adapting their coronavirus vaccine to be effective against the Omicron variant, according to the newspaper “Financial Times” (FT).

In this way, Oxford / AstraZeneca join other laboratories that are studying the possibility of adapting their preparations to this new variant, after experts warned that

“Together with our AstraZeneca partners, we have taken preliminary steps to produce an updated vaccine should it be needed.”Oxford research group leader Sandy Douglas told the FT.

The researchers, according to the journal, estimate that the development of this vaccine may take about a hundred days.

These studies come to light as many European countries have again imposed heavy restrictions on the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, which scientists say is much more contagious than the delta.

Vaccines prevent around 90% of hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19, according to data from Spain