The German company "BioNTech" and the American company "Pfizer" have started the first clinical study to test a vaccine specifically for protection against the new coronavirus variant "Omicron".

Today (Tuesday), the two companies announced that this study will assess the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of the candidate vaccine.

According to the data, the study will include approximately 1,420 people, who will be divided into three groups. The first group will include about 600 people who received two doses of the current coronavirus vaccine during the previous 90 to 180 days before the study, and they will now receive one or two doses of the Omicron vaccine.

The second group, which will include roughly the same number, will receive either a booster dose of the original vaccine or a dose of the Omicron vaccine, while the third group will include about 200 people who have neither received a coronavirus vaccine nor been infected with coronavirus so far, and they will receive three doses of the Omicron vaccine during the study.

BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin said: "The study is part of our scientific approach to developing a vaccine that provides similar protection against Omicron, as we observed with previous variants, but at the same time its effectiveness lasts longer," adding that the vaccines still provide a high level of protection against severe courses of Omicron.

The pharmaceutical company, headquartered in the German city of Mainz, and its American partner announced about two weeks ago that they had already begun producing a coronavirus vaccine adapted to the Omicron variant for later commercial use. BioNTech had stated that the two companies are "ready to supply the market by March next year, once approvals from authorities are obtained".

The European Medicines Agency has not yet clarified whether it will consider it necessary to develop a vaccine adapted to Omicron with a different formulation than the vaccine currently in use.