The world is becoming “better prepared” to deal with future variants of the coronavirus, the CEO and co-founder of German vaccine-maker BioNTech told AFP Thursday, as the company works on an Omicron-specific shot, Report informs, citing Times of Israel.
“We will have to get used to the fact that we will have to live with the virus for the next ten years,” said Ugur Sahin, whose company developed the first mRNA vaccine against the virus with US pharma giant Pfizer.
As the surge of cases due to the spread of the more transmissible Omicron variant of the virus seemed to be receding in Europe, Sahin said it would not be the last virus wave.
New virus variants were inevitable “because the virus will mutate further,” he said, potentially leading to new flare-ups in cases.
The Marburg-based company, which has sold well over a billion doses of its vaccine against the original strain of the coronavirus, is in the process of developing an Omicron-specific shot.