Pfizer testing its vaccine against new COVID-19 strain

Pfizer said Friday that it can produce a COVID-19 vaccine for the new virus strain identified in South Africa in "approximately 100 days," subject to government regulatory approval.

The pharmaceutical firm said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch that its researchers are now conducting tests to see if the company's existing vaccine is effective against the variant, dubbed "Omicron" by the World Health Organization.

If not, Pfizer said it would "produce a tailor-made vaccine against that variant" alongside its German vaccine partner, BioNTech. Pfizer and BioNTech expect to have results from its tests on Omicron in two weeks, Reuters reported.