Advertisement
Australia markets closed
  • ALL ORDS

    8,153.70
    +80.10 (+0.99%)
     
  • ASX 200

    7,896.90
    +77.30 (+0.99%)
     
  • AUD/USD

    0.6517
    -0.0018 (-0.28%)
     
  • OIL

    83.07
    +1.72 (+2.11%)
     
  • GOLD

    2,239.50
    +26.80 (+1.21%)
     
  • Bitcoin AUD

    108,768.41
    +3,647.46 (+3.47%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • AUD/EUR

    0.6040
    +0.0009 (+0.15%)
     
  • AUD/NZD

    1.0905
    +0.0025 (+0.23%)
     
  • NZX 50

    12,105.29
    +94.63 (+0.79%)
     
  • NASDAQ

    18,271.52
    -9.33 (-0.05%)
     
  • FTSE

    7,952.62
    +20.64 (+0.26%)
     
  • Dow Jones

    39,830.31
    +70.23 (+0.18%)
     
  • DAX

    18,492.49
    +15.40 (+0.08%)
     
  • Hang Seng

    16,541.42
    +148.58 (+0.91%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    40,168.07
    -594.66 (-1.46%)
     

UPDATE 1-Moderna CEO says vaccines likely less effective against Omicron - FT

* Drugmaker CEO warns of "material drop" in vaccine effectiveness

* Mutations mean existing vaccines likely need modifying - CEO

* Financial markets drop (Adds background)

SYDNEY, Nov 30 (Reuters) - The head of drugmaker Moderna said COVID-19 vaccines are unlikely to be as effective against the Omicron variant of the coronavirus as they have been previously, sparking fresh worry in financial markets about the trajectory of the pandemic.

"There is no world, I think, where (the effectiveness) is the same level . . . we had with Delta," Moderna Chief Executive Stéphane Bancel told the Financial Times https://www.ft.com/content/27def1b9-b9c8-47a5-8e06-72e432e0838f in an interview.

ADVERTISEMENT

"I think it's going to be a material drop. I just 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.'"

Vaccine resistance could lead to more sickness and hospitalisations and prolong the pandemic, and his comments triggered selling in growth-exposed assets like oil, stocks and the Australian dollar.

Bancel added that the high number of mutations on the protein spike the virus uses to infect human cells meant it was likely the current crop of vaccines would need to be modified.

He had earlier said on CNBC that it could take months to begin shipping a vaccine that does work against Omicron.

Fear of the new variant, despite a lack of information about its severity, has already triggered delays to some economic reopening plans and the reimposition of some travel and movement restrictions. [nL1N2SL045

(Reporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Kim Coghill)