0
0
British researchers have found evidence in a population study that the effect of the Corona vaccines from Biontech/Pfizer and AstraZeneca against the Omicron variant is weaker than against the Delta variant. Booster vaccination then raises protection against symptomatic infection again, report researchers led by Nick Andrews of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) in a yet-to-be peer-reviewed study. “
“This important UK study on Omicron shows more clearly for the first time how contagious variant is,” German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) commented on Twitter Saturday. “Early booster vaccination seems sensible, probably necessary.”
The researchers stressed that the results should be interpreted with caution, in part because of the still low number of infections with the Omicron variant. The scientists had detected the Omicron variant in a total of 581 symptomatic infections. During the same period, more than 56,000 infections with the delta variant were confirmed. Analysis of the data showed that protection against symptomatic infection with Omicron drops to 34 percent 15 weeks after the second dose of Biontech/Pfizer. People who had been vaccinated with two doses of the AstraZeneca preparation no longer had protection against symptomatic infection. Two weeks after booster vaccination, protection increased to more than 70 percent with both preparations.
Vaccine protection decreased
For the delta variant, vaccine protection dropped to just under 42 percent (AstraZeneca), or 63.5 percent (Biontech/Pfizer), from the 25th week after the second dose. A booster vaccination boosted protection to more than 90 percent. Two doses of the vaccines studied were not sufficient to effectively protect against infection and mild disease after infection with the omicron variant, the researchers concluded. The data did not allow conclusions about protection against severe disease. It was also unclear how long the improved protection would last after booster vaccination, they said.
“These early estimates should be taken with caution, but they suggest that a few months after the second vaccination, the risk of contracting the Omicron variant is higher than with the Delta strain,” said Mary Ramsay of UKHSA, according to a news release from the agency.
Despite the uncertainties: The researchers’ findings point in the same direction as initial laboratory tests presented a few days ago. Virologist Sandra Ciesek of Frankfurt University Hospital, for example, had reported after corresponding tests that the antibody response against Omicron was drastically reduced compared to the Delta variant – it was up to 37-fold lower. The companies Biontech and Pfizer also reported that, according to preliminary results, two doses of their vaccine do not provide sufficient protection against infection with Omicron. A booster dose was needed to increase antibody levels.
- source: kurier.at/picture:pixabay.com
This post has already been read 458 times!
