The CEO of US pharmaceutical company Moderna Inc (Nasdaq:MRNA) has warned that COVID-19 vaccines are unlikely to be as effective against the Omicron COVID-19 variant as they have been against the Delta variant, Reuters news agency reported on Tuesday.
Stéphane Bancel was quoted as telling the Financial Times in an interview: "There is no world, I think, where (the effectiveness) is the same level ... we had with Delta. I think it's going to be a material drop. I just don't know how much because we need to wait for the data. But all the scientists I've talked to ... are like 'this is not going to be good'."
The Omicron variant, which the World Health Organization (WHO) said carries a "very high" risk of infection surges, has triggered global alarm, with border closures.
First reported on 24 November 2021 from South Africa, Omicron has since spread to over a dozen countries.
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