Vaccine makers announce slowdowns for omicron-specific booster

Enlarge / Vials of undiluted Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. (credit: Getty | BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI )

Vaccine makers are pushing back when omicron-specific COVID-19 vaccines could be ready for use. The shots were initially expected in March.

Delays in the vaccines' development come as cases of omicron have been dropping rapidly, and several animal studies have suggested the variant-specific formulations will not offer an advantage over the current vaccines.

BioNTech CEO Uur ahin on Wednesday said that his company's omicron-specific vaccine had been delayed by several weeks due to unexpectedly slow data gathering, according to Reuters. BioNTech and its COVID-19 vaccine partner, Pfizer, had announced last month that they had begun a clinical trial with the omicron-specific shot.

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