Setting off fresh alarm bells in financial markets on Tuesday, drugmaker Moderna’s chief Stephane Bancel warned that COVID-19 vaccines are unlikely to be as effective against the Omicron variant as they have been against the Delta version.
News of its emergence wiped roughly $2 trillion off the value of global stocks on Friday, while Crude oil futures shed more than a dollar, the Australian currency hit a year low, and Nikkei gave up its gains.
With fears spurring that vaccine resistance could lead to more sickness and hospitalisations, prolonging the pandemic, it has cast a shadow over a nascent economic recovery from a two-year pandemic.
“There is no world, I think, where (the effectiveness) is the same level . . . we had with Delta,” Moderna CEO Bancel said in an interview.
“I think it’s going to be a material drop. I just don’t know how much because we need to wait for the data. But all the scientists I’ve talked to . . . are like ‘this is not going to be good’,” Bancel said.
Omicron has already triggered global alarm, which the World Health Organization (WHO) said carries a “very high” risk of infection surges.
Some calm was however restored this week as more data on the characteristics of Omicron are awaited by investors. Remarks by President Joe Biden that the United States would not reimpose lockdowns had also helped soothe markets.
Calling for wider vaccination, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged everyone aged 18 years and older to get a booster shot. Britain too has expanded its COVID-19 booster programme amid Omicron fears.
Hong Kong authorities have expanded a ban on entry for non-residents from several countries. It said non-residents from Angola, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Zambia would not be allowed to enter as of November 30.
Singapore‘s health ministry, on the other hand, said two travellers from Johannesburg who tested positive for the variant in Sydney had transited through its Changi airport. Australian authorities have also identified a sixth traveller who was most likely infected with the variant and had spent time in the community.
