China Scrambling To Develop Improved Vaccine for Omicron Variant as it Spreads Faster in other Countries
(Photo : Gerd Altmann /Pixabay )

China is increasing research into the Omicron variant to develop improved vaccines due to the newest strain. The ability to spread fast and bypass antibodies have concerned authorities.

Last Thursday, a Chinese official said that China would initiate accelerated studies to develop a vaccine that deals with COVID-19 mutations. Some claim that the spike protein has 35 adaptations record which enables the increased infection rates, but until confirmed.

China has no Omicron cases yet

No recorded cases if the newest strain has been officially detected so far in China. According to South China Morning Post, Zheng Zhongwei heads the body tasked to develop the vaccine for said state media.

More research and development are needed to develop an effective COVID-19 vaccine for different biotechnology available now. Whatever comes out of the potential research to develop therapies that may stave the multiple mutation variant that the World Head Organization (WHO) calls 'variant of concern.'

Beijing will be organizing resources to respond whether they use it or not, remarked Zheng. Fear of the ability of the new strain to render current vaccines less effective, but current vaccines are expected to buffer disease and death, cited Reuters.

Immediately Sinovac, the state vaccine producer, evaluates how much impact the Omicron has on its vaccine or if a new one is needed to protect people.

A Shenzhen firm called BioKangtai, specializing in biotechnology, is willing to team up with other pharma and institutions to field vaccine research explicitly targeting the newest variant.

Another firm BioNTech is racing to get more data on the 'super strain' and expects information in two weeks. Last Tuesday, the firm will see if the current Pfizer vaccine needs to be improved to deal with the Omicron variant.

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China is not allowing vaccines other than its own.

The mainland government's strict measures worked 

News of the Omicron has made more than one nation scramble to install protocols like border control, and less travel is reminiscent of December 2019.

But Beijing has not resorted to extreme measures, according to the Japan Times. It is business, as usual, not to hide from the virus.

When the new COVID-19 strain was announced first in South Africa, it was more virulent than the Delta. Next came the action to close access in countries like the UK, Israel, and even Japan. 

Scientists are moving fast to see if the findings are relevant to how viral adaptations affect the host cell but are trying to verify all aspects of the variant not to claim anything prematurely. This measure employed by Beijing included travel restrictions that will keep transmission zero to none. Chinese health officials are not willing to risk a big mistake with a wrong call, all to keep citizens safe.

Despite criticism of how everything was handled, the new variant has proved that China did the right thing to mitigate the virus harshly. The tradeoff of having terrible lockdowns paid off to have lessened the pandemic.

The Omicron variant is proof that China's decision is correct, how its strict measures have worked and whether or not an improved vaccine will be needed. Getting the cure is critical to have than none.

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