The protection of the pfizer vaccine is reduced to the omicron variantIt doesn’t go away entirely, though, according to preliminary results from a small study based on blood samples from just 12 people in South Africa. In any case, both previously infected and vaccinated people would be better protected.

The study carried out by the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI) has yet to undergo peer review by the rest of the scientific community.

“Laboratory research from South Africa strongly suggests that the omicron variant of SARS-COV-2 escapes Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine-induced antibody immunity (Comirnaty), but that people who were both vaccinated and previously infected retain considerable immunity“, explained the research center.

As the AHRI executive director added, Willem HanekomAlthough the most likely conclusion is that existing formulas offer less protection against omicron, “vaccinologists agree that current vaccines still protect against severe disease and death.”

While these data cannot be directly equated in terms of vaccine efficacy, the observed drop in antibody protection is 41 times greater for the omicron variant than for the parent coronavirus.

One of the study authors, the researcher Alex Sigal, has subsequently specified through social networks that the study data are “better” than initially expected for omicron, in view of its multiple mutations.

“Based on the genome, I thought it would be worse. It seems to be mostly a question of quantity: the more antibodies, the better,” Sigal wrote on Twitter.

Pharmaceutical company investigations

For his part, CEO Pfizer, Albert Bourla, has pointed out that the symptoms caused by the coronavirus omicron seem milder, but has warned that the variant is transmitted faster.

Bourla explained that his company is investigating the protection of its vaccines against this variant and that he hopes to have more information in the coming weeks.