Pfizer’s Vaccine Booster Works Against Omicrons, Israel Study Says

Israeli researchers said on Saturday (11) that the application of three doses of Pfizer’s vaccine against Covid offers significant protection against omicron. This is the third announcement made in recent years suggesting that the transitional booster could help fight the new coronavirus variant.

The study, carried out by the Sheba Medical Center and the Ministry of Health’s Central Virology Laboratory, compared the blood of 20 people who received two doses 5 to 6 months ago with blood from the same number of individuals immunized with the booster dose for the past year. one month.

“People who received the second dose 5 or 6 months ago don’t have any neutralizing capacity against omicrons, although they do against delta,” said Gili Regev-Yochay, director of the Infectious Diseases Unit at Sheba.

According to Gili, the third dose increases protection against omicron, but still below the capacity of the booster compared to the delta variant.

The Israeli team said it worked with the real virus, while other analyzes used what is known as a pseudovirus, designed to have the characteristics of omicron mutations.

Last Wednesday (8), Pfizer and BioNTech also said that three doses of their vaccine are shown to be able to neutralize the new strain, based on laboratory testing.

“The first line of defense, with two doses of vaccine, may be compromised [com a variante] and three doses are needed to restore protection,” said physician Ozlem Tureci, from BioNTec. According to the company, two doses still protect against serious cases.

“Ensuring that as many people as possible are fully vaccinated with the first two doses and the booster remains the best way to prevent the spread of Covid-19,” said Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla.

The day before this announcement, the laboratory of the African Institute of Health Research, in South Africa, released preliminary data from tests carried out on the blood of 12 people immunized with the product of the two companies.

The analysis indicated that the new variant of the coronavirus could partially escape the protection offered by two doses and that the third could help to curb the disease.

The World Health Organization (WHO), in turn, adopted caution in the face of initial information about the effectiveness of vaccines in combating omicron. For the entity, it is still not possible to be sure that three doses neutralize the variant.

According to the organization, there is an expectation of having better evidence on the effectiveness of the vaccine booster in the coming weeks with the development of new research.

The existence of the new strain, initially detected in South Africa, was reported to WHO on 24 November. In the following days, it spread to countries on five continents. Until the last day 8, there were records of infected in 57 nations.

In Brazil, at least seven cases have been confirmed, four of them in the state of São Paulo, two in the Federal District and one in Rio Grande do Sul.