Omicron COVID-19 variant a wake-up call for vaccine makers, experts warn

Several research groups have started work on more broadly protective COVID-19 vaccines, such as those that target parts of the virus too essential for its survival to change.

Arrival of the highly-mutated Omicron variant is a wake-up call to develop vaccines less susceptible to the rapid changes of the coronavirus, leading virologists and immunologists told Reuters.

Most first-generation COVID-19 vaccines target the spike protein on the outer surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus used to infect human cells. Omicron has prompted alarm among scientists because it has far more mutations than earlier variants, including more than 30 on its spike.

Research to determine the extent to which Omicron evades immunity from existing vaccines or prior infection is underway. New data on the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine show some degree of reduced protection with the two-shot regimen.

Even if current shots remain effective for now, the dramatic evolution of the virus highlights the need for vaccines targeting parts of the virus less prone to mutate.

“One thing that is clear from Omicron is that the virus… is not going to go away,” said Dr. Larry Corey, a virologist at Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center who is overseeing U.S. government-backed COVID-19 vaccine trials. “There’s a need for better vaccines.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the coronavirus has morphed several times including into the more transmissible, globally dominant Delta variant. Still, COVID-19 vaccines have largely maintained their ability to protect people against severe illness and death.

As rapid response tools, the current COVID-19 vaccines are “outstanding,” said Richard Hatchett, chief executive of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), an international coalition formed to prepare for infectious disease threats that has invested in many COVID-19 vaccines.

But more work – and money – is needed to manage the long-term risk. In March, CEPI called for $200 million in funding to develop vaccines that offer broad protection against SARS-CoV-2 variants, and other viruses in the same family such as MERS and SARS.