The Omicron variant seems to more easily infect those who are already fully vaccinated with Pfizer’s vaccine, but the boost dose seems to restore high levels of antibodies that can protect well against infection. This is what emerges from the first tests conducted by Pfizer itself – therefore to be read with all the necessary precautions -, which in a press release also announced that, if necessary, by March 2022 it will have a vaccine adapted to the Omicron variant ready.
The results of the pharmaceutical company are not unlike those of two preliminary studies, one South African and one German, which confirmed a substantial reduction in the protection against Omicron by several vaccines. According to Pfizer, in subjects vaccinated with two doses of their vaccine, the protection of neutralizing antibodies would be reduced by 25 times; this reduction, however, would increase by the same amount after a reinforcement dose.
Not just antibodies. Experts call for caution: antibodies, they recall, are not the only weapon our immune system has to protect itself from a pathogen, and for this reason a substantial reduction does not necessarily mean a lack of protection. There are also T cells (which have previously been shown to be effective in fighting the variants), which protect us above all from the most severe forms of the disease and seem not to be so affected by the Omicron variant.
WHO opinion. Even from the WHO leaks skepticism: “I think it is premature to jump to hasty conclusions,” said Soumya Swaminathan, scientific director of the organism, during a press conference, stressing the importance of coordinating a global research effort, avoiding looking for based answers. on individual studies. “These researches have been conducted on too few people, and have yielded very different results: some speak of four-fold reductions, others of forty-fold reductions in antibody activity against the variant.” In short, it is still too early to bandage your head: only with a greater number of studies (and people involved) will we be able to have a clearer picture of the situation.