WHO says more research needed on vaccine efficacy against Omicron

The global health agency's latest technical brief aims to answer some of the big outstanding questions about the heavily mutated Covid variant

The World Health Organization said on Tuesday more research is needed to find out if existing COVID-19 vaccines provide adequate protection against the highly contagious Omicron variant, even as manufacturers develop next generation shots.

The global health agency's latest technical brief aims to answer some of the big outstanding questions about the heavily mutated variant, which first emerged in November, such as on severity, transmissibility and ability to evade vaccines. It also fixes priorities for its member states.

But on one of the key questions of whether a new Omicron-specific vaccine was needed now, the U.N. agency did not have