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The 3rd booster vaccination is expected to be about as effective against the new Corona variant as against the wild type when vaccinated twice.
Pfizer-Biontech on Wednesday announced initial preliminary results from laboratory tests on the Omicron variant. These showed that three doses of Pfizer-Biontech’s vaccine neutralized the Omicron variant. If only two vaccine doses have been received, the neutralization titer is lower.
From the results, initial insights into the protective effect can be derived, even if laboratory tests do not fully reflect real-life conditions. The newly obtained data suggest that a third dose of Pfizer-Biontech’s vaccine increases neutralizing antibody titers against the Omicron variant 25-fold compared with titers after two doses of vaccination.
Booster vaccination also effective against Omicron
Titers after the booster dose are comparable to levels observed after two doses of vaccination against the wild-type virus and are associated with a high protective effect, Pfizer says, according to a Bloomberg article. “While two doses of the vaccine may continue to provide protection against severe disease progression, these initial data show very clearly that protection is enhanced with a third dose of our vaccine,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said.
Researchers at the Africa Health Research Institute in South Africa had released more preliminary data Tuesday on the effectiveness of Pfizer’s vaccine against Omicron. The results suggest that the viral variant escapes the antibody response of twice-vaccinated individuals.
Data from Germany also suggest this. Initial laboratory studies from Frankfurt on the effect of Corona vaccines against Omicron suggest a weaker immune response against the new variant. Virologist Sandra Ciesek of Frankfurt University Hospital published initial results on Twitter Wednesday showing a significantly reduced antibody response to the new variant.
What this means now
“The data reinforce that the development of a vaccine adapted to Omicron makes sense,” Ciesek wrote in response. However, Ciesek also pointed out that their evaluation does not indicate whether vaccinated individuals are protected from a severe course with Omicron. That’s because the immune response is based not only on antibodies, but also on T cells, for example.
Virologist Christian Drosten therefore recommends that everyone get a booster vaccination as soon as possible, because this is the only way to ensure protection against Omicron – until there is a vaccine that is better adapted to the new variant.
Vaccine adaptation already underway
Pfizer has already begun adapting its vaccine to the Omicron variant. That work is now continuing apace. First batches could be shipped within 100 days, assuming rapid regulatory approval.
- source: futurezone.at/picture: pixabay.com
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