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WASHINGTON: The chief executive of the US drugmaker Moderna has warned that existing vaccines will be less effective against Omicron than they have been against the Delta version, sending global stock markets sharply lower.

“There is no world, I think, where the effectiveness is the same level we had with Delta,” Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel told the Financial Times in an interview published on Tuesday.

Bancel asserted that data would be available on the effectiveness of the current vaccines in the next two weeks but scientists were not optimistic. “All the scientists I’ve talked to are like ‘this is not going to be good’,” he told the newspaper.

He suggested that pharma companies would struggle between targeting Omicron and the existing Covid variants, warning it would be risky to shift Moderna’s entire production capacity to an Omicron-specific jab.

In the meantime, Bancel suggested there might be a case for giving more potent boosters to the elderly or people with compromised immune systems.

Bancel said the high number of Omicron mutations on the spike protein, which the virus uses to infect human cells, and the rapid spread of the variant in South Africa suggested existing vaccines would not be very effective, predicting a “material drop” in the effectiveness.

His comments fuelled further falls in share prices around the world, adding to Friday’s selloff. The Hong Kong stock index closed at its lowest level in more than a year, falling 1.6%, and the FTSE 100 index in London fell by 1.5% to its lowest level in seven weeks.

The FTSE 100 is on track for its worst month in more than a year, trading down about 3% in November, the biggest drop since October 2020, when it lost nearly 5%, just before successful vaccine trials prompted a global rally in November 2020.

Curbs and concerns

First reported on Nov 24 from South Africa, Omicron has since spread to over a dozen countries. The WHO has urged countries to use a “risk-based approach to adjust international travel measures”. The global curbs have, however, triggered concerns about vaccine inequality.

“The people of Africa cannot be blamed for the immorally low level of vaccinations available in Africa – and they should not be penalized for identifying and sharing crucial science and health information with the world,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement.

India, home to the world’s largest vaccine maker, has approved supplies of Covid-19 vaccines to many African countries and said it stands ready to “expeditiously” send more. China too has pledged 1 billion doses to the continent.