Dec. 8, 2021 — A raft of new studies, released overnight that looked at the ability of Omicron to evade currently available vaccines, suggest a substantial loss of protection against the highly mutated variant.
The new studies, from teams of researchers in Germany, South Africa, Sweden, and the drug company Pfizer, showed 25- to 40-fold drops in the ability of antibodies created by two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to neutralize the virus. They also found that some monoclonal antibody therapies are ineffective against Omicron.
But there seemed to be a bright spot in the studies, too. The virus didn’t completely escape the immunity from the vaccines, and giving a third, booster dose appeared to restore antibodies to a level that’s been associated with protection against variants in the past.
“One of the silver linings of this pandemic so far is that mRNA vaccines manufactured based on the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 continue to work in the laboratory and, importantly, in real life against variant strains,” says Hana El Sahly, MD, a professor of molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
“The strains so far vary by their degree of being neutralized by the antibodies from these vaccines, but they are being neutralized nonetheless,” she says.
El Sahly points out that the Beta variant was associated with a 10-fold drop in antibodies, but two doses of the vaccines still protected against it.
President Joe Biden hailed the study results as good news.
“That Pfizer lab report came back saying that the expectation is that the existing vaccines protect against Omicron. But if you get the booster, you’re really in good shape. And so that’s very encouraging,” he said in an afternoon news briefing.
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SPEAKER: How does a COVID-19
mRNA vaccine work?
COVID vaccines are now
available.
Some of the COVID-19 vaccines
are mRNA vaccines, but what does
this mean?
mRNA vaccines are
different from traditional
vaccines.
mRNA vaccines don't expose you
to any real virus instead,
they're made with messenger
Ribonucleic Acid or mRNA.
This is a type of molecule that
gives instructions to the cell
for how to make different kinds
of proteins.
mRNA molecules are
a natural part of our cells
and how our bodies work.
Researchers have been working
with mRNA vaccines
for many years.
They are made more easily
and safely in a lab
than a vaccine that uses
a virus.
Because of this they can also
be made faster.
The COVID-19 mRNA vaccines
have passed many tests in labs
and in thousands of people,
and meet strict standards
from the FDA.
So how do these vaccines work?
First, a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine
is injected into a muscle
in your upper arm.
Some muscle cells take the mRNA
instructions in the vaccine
and make a harmless piece
of a protein called
a spike protein.
This protein is found
on the outside of the SARS-CoV-2
virus that causes COVID-19.
The muscle cells then destroy
the instructions for how to make
the spike protein.
The mRNA never goes
into the nucleus of your cells
where your DNA is stored.
The newly made spike protein now
sits on the surface
of the muscle cells.
Your immune system senses
the spike protein
as a foreign threat to destroy,
it starts making antibodies
to fight anything
with that spike protein on it.
This will help your body's
immune system recognize
and fight the real virus if it
ever shows up.
It's like recognizing someone
by the hat they wear.
Your body is then
prepared to spot COVID-19
and fight it off before it grows
in your body's cells.
Fast facts to remember
about COVID-19 mRNA vaccines.
They help get your body
ready to fight off the COVID-19
virus before it makes you sick,
they don't use
any live, dead, or weak virus,
they can't give you COVID-19,
they don't affect your DNA.
Want to learn more,
go to cdc.gov to find more
information about mRNA vaccines.
You can also learn more about
how the vaccines were approved
at fda.gov.
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But other scientists stressed that these studies are from lab tests and don’t necessarily reflect what will happen with Omicron in the real world. They cautioned about a worldwide push for boosters with so many countries still struggling to give first doses of vaccines.
Soumya Swaminathan, MD, the chief scientist for the World Health Organization, stressed in a news briefing that the results from the four studies varied widely, showing dips in neutralizing activity with Omicron that ranged from 5-fold to 40-fold.