Prognosis
Key Omicron Findings May Be Known in Days, WHO Scientist Says
- 450 researchers are studying the variant’s impact on immmunity
- Answers will help decide the composition of Covid vaccines
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Urgent studies to understand how effective Covid vaccines are against omicron have begun in a global collaboration that may yield answers in a few days, a World Health Health Organization scientist said.
Some 450 researchers around the world have begun work to isolate the highly mutated variant from patient specimens, grow it in the lab, verify its genomic sequence, and establish methods to test it in blood-plasma samples, said Ana-Maria Henao-Restrepo, who co-leads the WHO’s research and development blueprint for vaccines and innovations during outbreaks and pandemics.