Pfizer vax 40 times less effective against Omicron: South African study

Pfizers mRNAbased Covid vaccine may be up to 40 times less effective against the new super mutant Omicron variant a small study led by South African researchers have shownThe emergence of the Omicron variant of SARSCoV2 in November in South Africa has raised concerns that based on the large number of mutations in the spike protein and elsewhere on the virus this variant will have considerable escape from vaccine elicited immunityA team of scientists including Prof Alex Sigal from the Africa Health Research Institute tested 14 plasma blood samples from 12 participants with 6 having no previous record of SARSCoV2 infection and all who had previously been vaccinated with the PfizerBioNTech vaccineThe results posted on a preprint server and not peer reviewed yet showed a 41fold decline in antibodies generated by the Pfizer vaccine to neutralise the new variant compared with the original virusBut Omicrons ability to escape vaccine antibodies is incomplete said Prof Alex Sigal a virologist at the Africa Health Research Institute who led the researchFive of the participants all previously infected showed relatively high neutralisation titers with OmicronMoreover vaccineinduced antibodies dropped threefold in their ability to neutralise the earlier beta variant that previously dominated South Africa suggesting Omicron is much better at evading protection the study showedThe results we present here with Omicron show much more extensive escape the researchers wrote in the studyBut previous infection followed by vaccination or booster is likely to increase the neutralisation level and likely confer protection from severe disease in Omicron infection they addedHowever according to the World Health Organisation WHO existing vaccines should still protect people who contract the Omicron variant from severe Covid casesDr Mike RyanWHO emergencies director said there was no sign Omicron would be better at evading vaccines than other variants BBC reportedMeanwhile top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said that early data on the Omicron Covid19 variant is a bit encouraging and does not indicate a great degree of danger saysThough its too early to really make any definitive statements about it thus far it does not look like theres a great degree of severity to it Fauci was quoted as saying to CNNThus far the signals are a bit encouraging But we have really got to be careful before we make any determinations that it is less severe or it really doesnt cause any severe illness comparable to Delta he addedLab tests are under way to determine whether the super mutant Omicron is more transmissible than other strains resistant to immunity from vaccination and if infection is more severe The results are expected within weeksThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever