Hong Kong Scientist: Existing jabs will not be as effective against Omicron covid variant

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

One of Hong Kong's leading microbiologists and professors at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) warns that the Omicron covid variant poses risks to the global community, as the vaccines are unlikely to be as effective against the new strain.

Key quotes

"This particular strain has all the characteristics of previous mutations - and more.”

“So I believe (existing vaccines) will not be as effective, but how much it will reduce efficacy is still hard to predict.”

“Whether vaccines could be entirely ineffective, or reduce efficacy by 20 percent or 40 percent, is still too hard to say."

Moderna Inc.’s CEO Stéphane Bancel predicted the same on the vaccine’s efficacy against this new strain, which sent the risk sentiment into a tailspin.

These above comments, however, seem to have a little impact the prevalent upbeat market mood, with the S&P 500 futures up 0.86% on the day.

The safe-haven US dollar is down 0.10% so far, despite the uptick in the Treasury yields across the curve.

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

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