We’ll know whether new vaccine formulations are necessary, hopefully in the coming weeks and months. Really I think what’s critical is what the clinical outcome is of infections in people who have previously been vaccinated. If the vaccines are successful in really keeping people out of the hospital and keeping them alive, then it may be that we actually don’t need new vaccines to tackle omicron variants specifically. But we really just have to wait and see.

We should be reassured by the fact, for each of the three variants that have come into this country—most recently the delta variant—protection afforded by these vaccines has been excellent protecting against serious illness. I think in all likelihood that will also be true for omicron. But if it’s not true, if we find that vaccination does not protect against serious disease caused by the omicron variant, then I think we’re going to need an omicron-specific vaccine.

The currently available data says that our existing vaccine is effective against all the variants as long as you have that third dose. So, there’s no evidence yet to suggest that we need a new form of vaccine. Now as much as the virus is changing so quickly, that answer could change quickly as well. It may well turn out that we do need to get a booster dose with a variant. And I know the vaccine manufacturers already have these vaccines in the works so that they’re ready to go should they have to be put into production.