Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said Monday that he believes that the Omicron variant of the COVID virus is already present in most countries because of the highly contagious nature of the strain and the interconnected character of modern travel. "I believe that most countries that have direct flights to South Africa in the last seven to 10 days have already cases in that country that they might not be aware of," the chief executive at Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) told CNBC. Bancel also reported that he expects useful data about the efficacy of current vaccines against the Omicron strain in about two weeks, although he believes the power of the vaccines will likely be dulled against the new variant. "Given the large number of mutations, it is highly possible that the efficacy of the vaccine – all of them – is going down," he warned. Bancel reported that the new variant looks more contagious than Delta. He noted that it took about four months for Delta to takeover for Beta, while Omicron reached this milestone in "a couple of weeks." The Moderna CEO added that experts still also need to track the virulence of the new strain. He said it will take two to six weeks to get more clarity.
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