The new vaccine is intended to combat the Omicron variant.
The German company that partners with Pfizer on COVID-19 vaccines told Insider that it had begun the development of an adapted vaccine for Omicron to allow it to move forward quickly.
Omicron was first detected in southern Africa and is tracked by scientists and health officials around the world. Public health experts say the new variant is more dangerous than other strains of the disease.
The World Health Organization labeled Omicron a "variant of concern" on Friday, though officials have stressed that relatively little is known about the variant at this stage.
Moderna said on Sunday that it expects to have a new version of its shot available by early 2022, and that it should know by the end of the month if its current vaccine has enough protection.
The BioNTech spokesman said: "We understand the concern of experts and have immediately begun investigations on the omicron variant and the development of an adapted vaccine as part of our standard procedure for new variant."
The first steps of developing a potential new vaccine overlap with the research necessary in order to evaluate whether a new shot will be needed. If a variant-specific vaccine is needed, the objective of this approach is to move forward quickly.
The data from the laboratory tests will be available in two weeks. The data will give more information about whether B. 1.1.529 could be an escape variant that requires an adjustment of our vaccine if it spreads globally.
If a new variant of the vaccine appeared, BioNTech would be able to ship out new versions within 100 days.
