03 Feb 2022
Will we need Omicron-specific COVID vaccines? A leading virologist says the global system for flu shots could be a model to help us decide
This article was first published by Fortune
The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 has been around for barely two months, but in that short time, the super-contagious strain’s fast and furious spread around the world has once again scrambled pandemic response efforts. Among the many not-yet-answered questions prompted by the variant’s recent emergence: Do we need to update our COVID vaccines? And if so, should we anticipate having to keep updating them for the foreseeable future?
Many are thinking about that question, but few may be more central to resolving it than Dr. Kanta Subbarao, the virologist who chairs the World Health Organization’s Technical Advisory Group on COVID-19 vaccine composition (TAG-CO-VAC). Subbarao is also currently the director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza in Melbourne, and a professor at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity; from 2002 to 2016, she served as chief of the Emerging Respiratory Viruses Section at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the U.S.
Fortune spoke with Subbarao in late January about Omicron, her committee’s work, and what she expects of the virus and COVID vaccines going forward. Among her insights: As new SARS-CoV-2 variants like Omicron continue to emerge, the global system we have for updating influenza vaccines may be the best model for coordinating a global COVID vaccination strategy in the future. While the existing COVID vaccines continue to work well in protecting individuals against severe illness and death, says Subbarao, they are not being used widely enough, a status quo that virtually guarantees there will be more variants.