Richard Bergström: There is a lot to be said for updated vaccines this spring

One of the great advantages of the so-called mRNA vaccines is that they can be adapted relatively easily to new virus variants.

It takes about three months to develop a new modified vaccine - but so far no updates have been made.  

Surprising?

No, not particularly, according to Matti Sällberg, vaccine researcher at Karolinska Institutet. 

- You have to ask yourself the question why you should have modifications.

We know that the vaccines we have work well against serious illness and death against all variants we have seen so far, he says. 

More contagious

The fact that several different variants have replaced each other in a relatively short time also makes it difficult to know when it is the right time to update the vaccine. 

- Then you ask yourself the question which variant we should make the modifications to.

Is it still omikron that will dominate in three months or is it something else, says Matti Sällberg. 

It may still be appropriate to now develop updated vaccines to increase preparedness, he reasons, provided that they provide more effective protection.  

A best-case scenario would be an updated vaccine that protects against both disease and death and also succeeds in slowing the spread of infection. 

Better protection

The possibility of receiving updated and modified vaccines is included in the EU's agreement with the manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna.

To start the process, a decision from the European Commission is required.  

Sweden's vaccine coordinator Richard Bergström discussed the issue with his European colleagues on Friday and believes that a decision to order updated vaccines can be made within a few weeks.  

- There is a lot to say for that, I think it is likely, he says.  

If the Commission says yes, new clinical trials await and then a possible approval from the European Medicines Agency EMA.  

An updated vaccine could then be on the market at the earliest at the end of April.

When it would start to be used in Sweden, on the other hand, is more uncertain.  

- If we have a low spread of infection during the spring and summer, it may be better to save it for a few months and instead give it as a fourth dose in the autumn, says Richard Bergström.