Pfizer may have COVID-19 booster that addresses omicron, other variants by fall

By the fall, Pfizer and its partner, BioNTech, could potentially have a COVID-19 booster that specifically addresses the omicron variant, a company executive said.

By this fall, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its partner BioNTech could potentially have a COVID-19 booster that specifically addresses the omicron variant as well as its subvariants and other known strains of the virus, CEO Albert Bourla said during a panel Wednesday.

"It is a possibility that we have it by then; it's not certainty," Bourla said. "We are collecting data right now, and as far as I know, Moderna, as well as us, we are working on omicron or different enhanced vaccines,"

It would be simple to create a vaccine specifically targeting omicron, he explained, but it is scientifically and technically more difficult to create a vaccine that addresses all known variants.

"I hope clearly by autumn ... that we could have a vaccine, if we have one that works," Bourla said.