Pfizer-BioNTech jab less effective against Omicron: research
Preliminary data shows the antibodies from the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine are less effective against the Omicron variant.
The research was done by a team at the Durban-based Africa Health Research Institute.
The institute’s director Professor Willem Hanekom says they studied the antibodies from people who have received this specific jab.
"They show that you still neutralise the Omicron variant, but to a much lesser extent than the antibodies neutralise virus that appeared much earlier in the pandemic.
"So it suggests that these viruses that Omicron has emerged and changed to resist some of the immunity induced by a vaccine."
Hanekom says for as long as Covid-19 keeps circulating in the world, more variants will come out and the way to control them is through repeated vaccinations.
"It is also likely to happen that if this goes on and on, that in the end we will build up so much immunity from vaccinations but also from infections that do happen that the disease will ultimately be slightly less severe and there are already indications that Omicron may cause slightly less severe disease overall."
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