December 4, 2021
06:44
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The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Dr. Anthony Fauci, said on Friday that Pfizer’s oral drug against Covid-19 is likely to retain its effect against the Coronavirus variant Omicron, thus supporting the comments of CEO Albert Burla.
Everything on the topic:
Omicron – the new coronavirus variant 115
–At a White House press briefing, Fauci also noted that “there is no doubt” that the new version is spreading in the United States, since Omicron cases have already been registered in five states, including New York.
A day earlier, GlaxoSmithKline said preclinical data showed that its drug for Covid-19 also “retains activity against key mutations in the Omicron variant.”
Dr Fauci also noted that manufacturers of vaccines against Covid-19 have contingency plans to deal with the Omicron variant, which include both a combination vaccine against the original version of the coronavirus and the Omicron variant, as well as a booster-specific booster dose.
The US government is working with Moderna, Pfizer and J&J on a number of contingency plans, he said.
“One is to renew the production of vaccines that these companies already have. The next is to make, for example, a bivalent vaccine that works against both the original Covid strain and the new variant, and the third is to make a booster specific to the new variant. “, noted Anthony Fauci.
According to Dr. Fauci, data from a study by the National Institutes of Health clearly show that existing booster doses provide cross-protection against a number of coronavirus variants, including Omicron.
“Although we have not yet proven it, there is every reason to believe that if you get vaccinated and then take an extra (booster) dose, you will have at least some degree of cross-protection, most likely against severe disease, even against the Omicron option. “.
