Sinovac says testing of its shot against Omicron will take time

BEIJING • China's Sinovac Biotech, whose coronavirus vaccine is the most widely used globally with 2.3 billion doses shipped out, said it is testing its inactivated shot against the Omicron variant in a number of laboratory studies, but that any results would take time.

The update comes as Pfizer, which makes the world's second-most used vaccine with BioNTech, said that neutralising antibody levels fell against Omicron, compared with the original strain of the virus, but that a booster shot should provide people with sufficient protection.

Sinovac is currently undertaking the same type of study that Pfizer did, which uses a pseudovirus - a genetically modified stand-in for the real pathogen, said a company representative yesterday.

The study will provide the first and quickest insight into how much potency Sinovac's shot still retains against Omicron.

The company declined to say when it would be able to release results.

How well Sinovac's shot holds up against Omicron is a question of significant consequence for much of the developing world reliant on the Chinese vaccine, which is easier to store and administer than messenger RNA (mRNA) immunisations.

While still highly effective at warding off serious illness and death, it protects much less against transmission and symptomatic disease than mRNA vaccines for the original strain of the virus and for the Delta variant.

Sinovac said it has also obtained the Omicron variant and is studying how well vaccine-induced antibodies can respond to the live virus.

Concerns are swirling globally that Omicron could deal the world a bigger blow than even Delta, and the World Health Organisation has cautioned that it could fuel surges with "severe consequences".

Separately, China's drug authority on Wednesday said it has granted emergency approval for the country's first specialised treatment against Covid-19, found in clinical trials to significantly reduce hospitalisations and deaths among high-risk patients.

The monoclonal antibody treatment was co-developed by Tsinghua University, the Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen, and Brii Biosciences.

BLOOMBERG, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE