According to a new study, Pfizer patients will likely have reduced antibody protection generated from the vaccine along with BioNTech’s vaccine in light of the new COVID-19 Omicron variant. Patients will likely have to get a booster vaccine to increase antibodies and immunity from severe disease.
Prof. Alex Sigal with the Africa Health Research Institute and a group of scientists conducted the study, released on Tuesday, by testing blood samples from 12 people who had previously been vaccinated with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. The premise of this study was to see how well antibodies generated from the vaccine can potentially combat the new variant and block its ability to infect cells, CNBC reported.
The antibody’s performance displayed a 41-fold drop in its ability to offset the omicron variant compared with the original virus, which is considerably less effective than the original strain and other variants, according to a preprint of the study that hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed. Moreover, compared to the beta variant that was previously dominated in South Africa, the vaccine-induced antibodies drastically decreased threefold in their ability to neutralize the strain, suggesting that the omicron variant is much more effective at evading the protection.
“The results we present herewith Omicron show much more extensive escape” than the beta variant, researchers wrote. “Previous infection, followed by vaccination or booster is likely to increase the neutralization level and likely confer protection from severe disease in Omicron infection.”
During the study, scientists tested 14 plasma samples from 12 people who were vaccinated, 6 of whom were previously infected. Due to the urgency surrounding the pandemic, they have been pushing their Covid research to become available without having to go through the extensive peer-review process, per CNBC.
On Wednesday, Pfizer and BioNTech released their lab results, indicating the new strain is less efficient in the two-dose vaccine’s ability to fight omicron. But, in addition to the scientists’ findings, the companies also suggested that a booster would likely rise in protection against the variant, and the two-dose series may still protect against severe disease.
“Although two doses of the vaccine may still offer protection against severe disease caused by the Omicron strain, it’s clear from these preliminary data that protection is improved with a third dose of our vaccine,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a joint statement with BioNTech.
Dr. Paul Offit, professor of pediatrics at the infectious disease division at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, explained to CNBC that the South Africa data proposed fully vaccinated people may face a higher risk of mild infection from omicron than the past variants.
“I think that there’s still going to be protected against serious illness,” Offit said. “I think with either vaccination or natural infection or both. You’re going to be protected against serious illness.”
Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the chief scientist at the World Health Organization, said people shouldn’t jump to conclusions based on preliminary studies.
“I think it’s premature to conclude that this reduction neutralizing activity would result in a significant reduction in vaccine effectiveness,” Swaminathan told reporters during a press conference in Geneva. “What we really need now is a coordinated research effort and not jumping to conclusions on, you know, study by study.”
“Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said Tuesday the company can develop a vaccine that explicitly targets omicron by March 2022 if needed.” First, however, they would have to collect weeks’ worth of data on whether the current vaccines provide enough protection against the variant.
The Pfizer CEO had previously told CNBC that immunity provided by the company’s two-dose vaccine is expected to decrease in the face of omicron.
The South African scientists also found that omicron attacks the body by infecting human lung cells that previous variants used; this happens when the strain attaches to the same receptor, known as ACE2.
White House chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told reporters during a White House Covid briefing Tuesday that data from South Africa on new omicron infections “clearly argues towards a high degree of transmissibility.” Omicron was first identified in southern Africa, containing dozens of mutations that generally make viruses more contagious.
While it’s too early to detect whether the omicron variant causes severe disease, Dr. Fauci said over the weekend that the early reports regarding the severity of the strain were encouraging.
In a report published on Saturday, the South African Medical Research Council presumed that most patients admitted to a hospital in Pretoria who had Covid did not need supplemental oxygen, as was common in previous infection waves. But, according to the report, many patients in the Covid wards were hospitalized for other reasons.
“Pfizer’s CEO said Tuesday that a variant that spreads fast but causes milder symptoms is not necessarily good news.”
“I don’t think it’s good news to have something that spreads fast,” Bourla told The Wall Street Journal during an interview at the paper’s CEO Council Summit. “Spreads fast means it will be in billions of people, and another mutation may come. You don’t want that.”
