Moderna CEO spooks markets with warning

Drugmaker Moderna’s CEO set alarm bells jangling in financial markets on Tuesday with a warning that Covid-19 vaccines were unlikely to be as effective against the Omicron variant as they against the Delta version.

Crude oil futures shed more than a dollar, the Australian currency hit a year low and Nikkei gave up gains as CEO Stéphane Bancel’s comments spurred fears that vaccine resistance could lead to more sickness and hospitalisations, prolonging the pandemic.

“There is no world, I think, where [effectiveness] is at the same level... we had with Delta,” Bancel said. “I think it’s going to be a material drop. I don’t know how much because we need to wait for the data. But all the scientists I’ve talked to are like ‘this is not going to be good’”.

Moderna did not reply to a query on when it expects to have data on effectiveness of its vaccine against Omicron, which the WHO says carries a high risk of infection surges.

Bancel had earlier said there should be more clarity on the efficacy of vaccines against Omicron in about two weeks, and it could take months to begin shipping a vaccine that works against the new variant.

The WHO and scientists said it could take days to several weeks to understand the level of severity of the variant and its potential to escape protection against vaccines.

“Vaccination will likely still keep you out of the hospital,” said John Wherry, director of the Penn Institute for Immunology in Philadelphia.

Uncertainty about the new variant triggered border closures that cast a shadow over a nascent economic recovery from a two-year pandemic.

News of its emergence wiped roughly $2 trillion off the value of global stocks on Friday, but some calm returned this week as investors waited for data.

The US urged everyone over 18 to get a booster shot. Britain too expanded its booster programme.

Global curbs on travellers from southern Africa as a result of the discovery of the variant in SA last week raised concerns about vaccine inequality.

“The people of Africa cannot be blamed for the immorally low level of vaccinations available in Africa and they should not be penalised for identifying and sharing crucial science and health information with the world,” UN Secretary-general Antonio Guterres said.

India, home to the world’s largest vaccine maker, has approved supplies of vaccines to many African countries.

China, too, has pledged one billion doses to the continent.