Health

US study suggests COVID vaccines may be ineffective against omicron without boosters

All three US-authorized COVID-19 vaccines appear to be significantly less protective against the newly-detected omicron variant of the coronavirus in laboratory testing, but a booster dose likely restores most of the protection, according to a study released on Tuesday.

The study from researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Harvard and MIT that has not yet been peer reviewed tested blood from people who received the Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines against a pseudovirus engineered to resemble the omicron variant.

For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.

The researchers found “low to absent” antibody neutralization of the variant from the regular regimens of all three vaccines – two shots of the Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines or one of J&J's single-dose vaccine.

But the blood from recent recipients of an additional booster dose exhibited potent neutralization of the variant, the study found.

The scientists also suggested that omicron is more infectious than previous variants of concern, including about twice as transmissible as the currently dominant Delta variant, which may soon be overtaken by omicron.

The results are in line with other studies recently published. Researchers at the University of Oxford said on Monday that they found the two-dose Pfizer and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine regimens do not induce enough neutralizing antibodies against the new variant.

BioNTech and Pfizer said last week that a three-shot course of their COVID-19 vaccine was able to neutralize the new omicron variant in a laboratory test, but two doses resulted in significantly lower neutralizing antibodies.

Moderna and J&J have yet to release any of their own data about how the vaccines perform against the new variant. J&J declined to comment on the new study and Moderna did not respond to request for comment.

For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

Israeli study finds Pfizer COVID-19 booster protects against Omicron

Two weeks into the Omicron outbreak: Where to from here?

Health

World News in Brief: Vaccine ‘patches’ trial shows promise, lowering catheter infection risk, Guantanamo detainee facing revictimisation

Few enjoy having injections and if you have children, you probably like them even less when it’s time for their mandated vaccine shots.

Health

No sign yet of H5N1 bird flu spreading between humans, says WHO chief

The H5N1 avian influenza virus has so far shown no signs of adapting to allow human to human transmission, the UN health agency said on Wednesday, urging continued surveillance.

Health

Patients in Rafah ‘afraid to seek services’, WHO reports

The World Health Organization (WHO) has taken “crucial steps” in the event of a large-scale Israeli military operation in Rafah, Dr. Ahmed Dahir, Team Lead of its office in Gaza, told UN News on Tuesday.