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On Monday, Jan. 10, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said that booster targeting Omicron will be ready as soon as March, as the company has already begun ramping up production of the doses.
“This vaccine will be ready in March,” Bourla told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “We (are) already starting manufacturing some of these quantities at risk.”
The vaccine will not exclusively target Omicron, but will also be able to fight other variants that have been circulating in recent weeks. It is unclear how Pfizer will begin distributing the booster shots across the US.
Pfizer plans to start human testing for its Omicron-specific COVID-19 vaccine before the end of January.
“The hope is that we will achieve something that will have way, way better protection particularly against infections, because the protection against the hospitalizations and the severe disease,” Bourla said. “it is reasonable right now, with the current vaccines as long as you are having let’s say the third dose.”
According to recently released studies out of the UK, both Pfizer and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines are only approximately 10 percent effective at preventing symptomatic infections from the Omicron variant after approximately five months.
However, the original two doses still provide good protection against severe illness, the study found. Booster shots have also had approximately 75 percent effectiveness in preventing symptomatic infections.
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel previously said that his company is working on a booster shot targeting Omicron that could be ready by the fall.
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