WHO body says COVID vaccines ‘may need to be updated’ for Omicron

The statement comes after several real-world studies found the variant, highly resistant to antibodies from a past infection as well as those elicited by vaccination, reduced the efficacy of most used doses to under 40%.

A technical advisory group established by the World Health Organization said on Tuesday that current Covid-19 vaccines may need to be updated to ensure they are effective against new variants like Omicron.

Serum Institute of India sought approval for Covishield as a booster dose from India’s drugs regulator citing adequate stock of the vaccine in the country and a demand for a booster shot due to the emergence of new coronavirus variants. (Representative use)

The statement comes after several real-world studies found the variant, highly resistant to antibodies from a past infection as well as those elicited by vaccination, reduced the efficacy of most used doses to under 40%.

“The composition of current Covid-19 vaccines may need to be updated, to ensure that Covid-19 vaccines continue to provide WHO-recommended levels of protection against infection and disease by VOCs, including Omicron and future variants,” the body of independent experts said in a statement.

The WHO set 50% efficacy as the minimum bar for coronavirus vaccines, which each of them met when tested against the variant that first spread in 2020, but has since been reduced by the Sars-CoV-2’s evolution.

The WHO panel, called TAG-CO-VAC, asked vaccine makers to generate and provide data on the performance of Omicron-specific vaccines for now.

Several companies, including Moderna and Pfizer, are testing Omicron-specific vaccines, while some others have begun testing pan-coronavirus vaccines in clinical trials. Pan-coronavirus vaccines are difficult to design.