jpnn.com, AFRIKA - Two doses of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine do not provide full protection against the Omicron Covid-19 variant, according to the results of a laboratory study by the African Health Research Institute in South Africa, the country where the variant was first discovered.
However, the study also showed that blood from people who received two doses of Pfizer vaccine and were previously infected with Covid-19 had a high chance of neutralizing the variant.
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Therefore, the study suggested that booster doses of the vaccine could help fend off infection.
Alex Sigal, a lecturer at the African Health Research Institute, said on Twitter that there was a "large drop" in neutralizing the Omicron variant when compared to previous Covid-19 strains.
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The lab tested the blood of 12 people who had been vaccinated with two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, according to a text on the lab's website. The initial data in the manuscript has not been reviewed in groups.
The blood of five of the six people who had been vaccinated and previously infected with Covid-19 still neutralized the Omicron variant, according to the manuscript.
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"These results are better than I expected. The more antibodies you got, the more chance you'll be protected from Omicron," Sigal said.
He said the laboratory had not tested the variant against the blood of people who had already received a booster dose because they were not in South Africa yet.
Based on the manuscript, the laboratory observed a 14-fold decrease in the level of neutralizing antibody against the Omicron variant.
Sigal said on Twitter that the figure would likely be adjusted once his lab did more experiments.
While neutralizing antibodies are an indicator of the body's immune response, scientists believe other cell types, such as B cells and T cells, are also stimulated by the vaccine and help protect against the effects of Covid-19.
Preliminary data do not indicate that the vaccine is less able to prevent severe illness or death.
While laboratory tests are underway, BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin said last week that it was likely that people would have basic protection against severe disease caused by Omicron.
The Omicron variant, which was first detected in southern Africa last month, has already sounded the alarm globally for another spike in infections, with more than twenty countries from Japan to the United States reporting cases.
The World Health Organization (WHO) classified it on Nov. 26 as a "variant of concern", but said there was no evidence to support the need for a new vaccine specifically designed against the Omicron variant with its multiple mutations.
There is no significant data yet on how vaccines from Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and other drug companies inhibit new variants.
All manufacturers, including Pfizer and BioNTech, are expected to release their data in a few weeks.
The leading infectious disease expert in the US, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said on Tuesday that preliminary evidence suggested the Omicron variant of Covid-19 might have a higher transmission rate, but was less severe.
He said the US was conducting tests to determine current vaccine protection against the variant and expected results to be out next week.
Umer Raffat, an analyst with Evercore ISI, cautioned against reading too much into one study and notes that there was significant variability in measuring decreased antibody levels in previous laboratory studies. (ant/dil/mcr20/jpnn)
This news has been broadcast on JPNN.com with the title: Afrika Selatan: Keampuhan Vaksin Pfizer Anjlok Melawan Omicron