Strongest drop on the Paris Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Valneva fell 20%, in passing its sixth decline in a row. Growing data suggests Omicron is causing symptoms that are less severe than previous variants, a WHO official said on Tuesday, limiting the need for a new vaccine. The clearances of the day are nevertheless facilitated by the surge that the action had known in 2021, with a spectacular gain of 216%.
” We have more and more studies which suggest that Omicron infects the upper part of the respiratory tract, unlike other strains, which could cause severe pneumonia., explained Dr Abdi Mahamud, at the head of a team working on the management of the Covid-19 pandemic within the organization, stressing that it could be a ” good news “.
More contagious, but less virulent
Studies are increasing, therefore, to analyze the infectious characteristics of Omicron and with the same conclusion: the Delta variant remains the most dangerous since the onset of the pandemic, while Omicron is, of course, more contagious, but less virulent. , with less significant inflammation of the lung.
” The severity of Covid-19 is not so much the viral infection itself as the inflammation caused by a strong discharge of pro-inflammatory proteins made during the activation of the immune system, recalls this morning the firm Invest Securities, it is the famous cytokine storm. And precisely, with Omicron, the risk of developing a cytokine storm due to a runaway immune system would be lower. “
Therefore, and as the results of studies conducted by researchers in South Africa revealed at the beginning of last week, people infected with the Omicron variant would develop better immunity. From there to considering using the variant as a means of natural vaccination, there is only one step, which logically stumbles the companies active in the field of the development of a vaccine.
EMA decision expected shortly
Valneva, which is still in the research phase for the development of its vaccine against Covid (the decision of the EMA, the European Medicines Agency, is expected for this first quarter, perhaps moreover in the first part of the period. ), is the most sensitive to this new scenario. Especially since it is now more developed for a primary vaccination and not as a booster dose. The giants of the segment are also retreating on the stock market. Moderna lost 7% yesterday and could still give more than 2% in New York at the opening. Pfizer dropped more than 4% on Monday and is also preparing to open in the red. In Frankfurt, BioNTech sells 4%. Stocks linked to tests and the supply of equipment are also in the red, with bioMérieux, Eurofins Scientific and Sartorius Stedim dropping more than 5%.
” With a high spread and a relatively low danger, the Omicron variant could play the role of the vaccine by stimulating the immunity of infected people without endangering them, concludes Invest Securities. This is exactly the principle of vaccination, with the difference that Omicron does not require any particular logistics, or contracts to ensure the coverage of a population, or deadlines for the manufacture and supply of the batches. This strategy therefore has several pecuniary, temporal and logistical advantages in addition to the reestablishment of a certain equity between the countries. ”