Doctors are urging everyone to get vaccinated and boosted as cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant are popping up in more states, but the vaccine may also need to change to keep up with the mutations of the virus.”It is, probably, one of our worst-case scenarios in terms of the combination of mutations that exist in one variant,” said Dr. Stephen Hoge, president of Cambridge-based Moderna.Moderna manufactures most of its COVID-19 vaccine doses at the company’s facility in Norwood. Hoge says the company’s laboratory is beginning work on a new vaccine in response to Omicron. “We’re trying to play catch-up right now, which is one reason why I think the pharmaceutical companies need to double-down on their efforts to develop next-generation vaccine,” said Dr. Todd Ellerin, director of infectious diseases at South Shore Health. Moderna officials say they have enough capacity to produce the current vaccine and, potentially, a future vaccine simultaneously. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden on Thursday announced his nine-point plan for fighting the virus this winter.
Doctors are urging everyone to get vaccinated and boosted as cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant are popping up in more states, but the vaccine may also need to change to keep up with the mutations of the virus.
“It is, probably, one of our worst-case scenarios in terms of the combination of mutations that exist in one variant,” said Dr. Stephen Hoge, president of Cambridge-based Moderna.
Moderna manufactures most of its COVID-19 vaccine doses at the company’s facility in Norwood. Hoge says the company’s laboratory is beginning work on a new vaccine in response to Omicron.
“We’re trying to play catch-up right now, which is one reason why I think the pharmaceutical companies need to double-down on their efforts to develop next-generation vaccine,” said Dr. Todd Ellerin, director of infectious diseases at South Shore Health.
Moderna officials say they have enough capacity to produce the current vaccine and, potentially, a future vaccine simultaneously.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden on Thursday announced his nine-point plan for fighting the virus this winter.