Study suggests Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine may only partially protect against Omicron
Gulf Times
The Omicron variant of the coronavirus can partially evade the protection from two doses of Pfizer Inc and partner BioNTech's vaccine, the research head of a laboratory at the Africa Health Research Institute in South Africa said.
The Omicron variant of the coronavirus can partially evade the protection from two doses of Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and partner BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine, the research head of a laboratory at the Africa Health Research Institute in South Africa said on Tuesday.
Still, the study showed that blood from people who had received two doses of the vaccine and had a prior infection were mostly able to neutralise the variant, suggesting that booster doses of the vaccine could help to fend off infection.
Alex Sigal, a professor at the Africa Health Research Institute, said on Twitter there was "a very large drop" in neutralisation of the Omicron variant relative to an earlier strain of Covid-19.
The lab tested blood from 12 people who had been vaccinated with two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, according to a manuscript posted on the website for his lab. The preliminary data in the manuscript has not yet been peer reviewed.
