European shares slumped at the opening after the head of drug company Moderna said existing Covid vaccines may struggle to combat the Omicron variant of the virus.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 1.1% in early deals with all major regional bourses on the same path.
Moderna chief executive Stephane Bancel warned it would take months for pharmaceutical companies to make enough jabs at a sufficient scale to make a difference to the new variant.
Bancel told the Financial Times the high number of Omicron mutations on the spike protein, which the virus uses to infect human cells, and the rapid spread of the variant in South Africa, suggested the current crop of vaccines may need to be modified next year.
“There is no world, I think, where [the effectiveness] is the same level . . . we had with Delta,” Bancel said.
“I think it’s going to be a material drop. I just don’t know how much because we need to wait for the data. But all the scientists I’ve talked to . . . are like ‘this is not going to be good’.”
The remarks place Bancel at odds with rivals who have said a new vaccine would be able to modified quickly.
Brent crude fell 2.8% to $71.40 per barrel, an 11-week low after plunging more than 10% on Friday, when concerns about Omicron emerged from Southern Africa.
In equity news, shares in Swedish oil and gas company Lundin Energy fell 9% on a report that it was considering a potential sale.
Future lifted its 2022 expectations, sending shares in the media group surging.
