SAN ANTONIO — Pfizer announced it's starting trials to create a vaccine specific to the omicron variant.
Here in San Antonio, the Texas Biomedical Research Institute is also focused on targeting the highly transmissible variant.
They're working on their own omicron treatment.
A Texas Biomed doctor helped to create an antibody cocktail. The next steps for this treatment will be clinical testing and approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
Bexar County surpassed 470,000 total COVID-19 cases as omicron continues to prolong the pandemic, but Thursday's tally of 4,297 is one of the lowest reported by Metro Health over the last weeks.
Daily new-case counts have fallen every day this week after more than 7,000 diagnoses were reported Monday. Over that time, the seven-day moving average for new cases has dropped from 5,534 to 5,059.
The number of local patients hospitalized with the coronavirus also dropped for the first time since Sunday, to 1,289. Of those, 263 patients are in intensive care and 123 are using ventilators.
Seven new virus-related deaths were also reported Thursday, raising the San Antonio area's death toll to 5,079. In all, 473,625 residents have been diagnosed with COVID-19 over the last two years.
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