Pfizer, BioNTech start mid-phase trial for Omicron vaccine
American Pfizer Inc. and its German partner BioNTech SE announced on Wednesday that they initiated a "randomized, active-controlled, observer-blind" mid-stage vaccine trial for an unspecified Omicron variant of COVID-19.
The next generation vaccine candidate, BNT162b5, consists of RNAs encoding spike proteins for the coronavirus's ancestral strain and an Omicron variant.
The BNT162b5 is the first of the new potential vaccines with an enhanced design that will be created and tested as a part of a long-term strategy to combat COVID-19.