The new coronavirus Omicron variant may have "significant" ability to evade vaccine protection-even the third dose of vaccine

Early research has shown that vaccines and previous infections can provide some "stronger than basic" protection for Omega

However, Omicron's test tube samples further showed that it has a "significant" ability to evade protection from previous infections, and may even evade the third vaccine dose

The earliest peer-reviewed study of a variant of Omicron COVID-19 published today (December 11, 2021) shows that people who have previously been infected with COVID-19 and those who have been vaccinated will be concerned about this new strain Have some "stronger than basic" defensive capabilities

However, the test tube (scientifically called "test tube") sample of Omicron tested in this new study does show that its potential to circumvent previous infections or protection from vaccination "surpasses" all other variants

The findings published in the journal "Emerging Microorganisms and Infections" also show that although the third-dose enhancement strategy can "significantly improve immunity", the protection of omega clones "may be impaired"-but more research is needed To understand this better

Wang Youchun, a senior researcher and lead author at the National Institute of Food and Drug Control in China, reported on this very early study.

Wang said: "We found that a large number of mutations in Omicron variants did cause a major change in the sensitivity to neutralization of people already infected with the COVID virus

"However, the average ED50 (protection level) for Omicron is still higher than the baseline, which suggests that some protection can still be observed

Wang Jianlin, former chairman of "Medical Virology" and vice chairman of "Medical Microbiology and Immunology" of the Chinese Medical Association, also expressed caution

He said that because antibody protection—in the form of previous infections or vaccines—was gradually diminishing over a period of six months, Omega “may be able to escape immunity better

In addition, his team’s paper predicts that although “the third-dose enhancement strategy can significantly improve immunity”, “the protection of omega clones may be impaired

An expert team of 11 scientists studied 28 serum samples from patients who recovered from the original SARS-CoV-2 strain

Wang concluded: "This study verifies that the Omicron variant enhances immune escape, which has sounded a wake-up call to the world and is of great significance to the formulation of public health planning and matching strategies

Now, the team says that more research is urgently needed, not only in vitro but also in the real world to better understand Omega

"It needs to be reassessed whether these antibodies are still effective against the Omega variants," the authors said

"The exact impact on human protection may be affected by more factors, such as the infectivity of the Omega clone relative to other mutations to the human population, and the suitability of humans once they are infected with the Omega virus

"More population studies are needed, including the level of immune protection and the symptoms of patients infected with Omega, in order to fully determine the global impact of Omega on the control of the COVID-19 pandemic
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The main caveat of this study is that it is in a natural environment outside the body and uses a pseudotyped (man-made) virus
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However, previous studies have used the intra-virus neutralization test as an established measure of "good correlation", and the current vaccine literature "has established that the in vitro neutralization test is a good predictor of the protective effect of the vaccine and the actual vaccine effect
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Therefore, the authors say, their data “may well predict that the vaccine’s protection against the new Omega variants may be reduced
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Reference: "Significant immune escape of SARS-CoV-2 pseudotyped variant Omicron", December 11, 2021, Emerging Microbes and Infections
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DOI: 10.
1080 / 22221751.
2021.
2017757