The clinical study by Pfizer and BioNTech on the vaccine candidate for the Omicron variant of the covid is underway. The two American and German companies announced today the start of the trial that will be conducted on adults aged between 18 and 55 years. Mission: to evaluate the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of the Omicron vaccine. The first participants enrolled in the clinical trial received the product candidate as a two-dose primary course or as a booster (the plan is to involve some participants from the phase 3 booster study). The Omicron vaccine trial will have three cohorts looking at different regimens based on the current licensed Covid vaccine and the Omicron candidate. The initiation of this study is part of the efforts initiated by Pfizer and BioNTech to address Omicron and determine if a variant-based vaccine is needed. “While research and real-world data show that boosters continue to provide a high level of protection against serious illness and hospitalization from Omicron, we recognize the need to be prepared in case this protection declines over time,” says Kathrin U. Jansen, Pfizer Senior Vice President and Head of Vaccine Research & Development. “Staying vigilant against the virus requires us to identify new approaches for people to maintain a high level of protection,” he points out. Especially since, as Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech explains, “the emerging data indicate that protection vaccine induced against mild to moderate infections and diseases wears off faster than observed with previous strains. This study is part of our scientific approach to develop a variant-based vaccine that achieves a similar level of protection against Omicron as of the previous variants, but with a longer duration of protection “.