Omicron routs J&J vaccine in lab study, may evade Sinovac and BioNTech too
A study, conducted by scientists at the microbiology department of the University of Hong Kong, showed that insufficient antibodies were generated by the Sinovac and BioNTech products to fend off Omicron.
After a lab study in South Africa this week found that the vaccine against coronavirus disease (Covid-19) manufactured by Johnson & Johnson produced some antibodies but showed “no detectable” neutralisation of the Omicron variant, a new study in Hong Kong has shown that the highly infectious and frequently mutating strain might evade the Sinovac and BioNTech shots, too.
The study, conducted by scientists at the microbiology department of the University of Hong Kong, showed that insufficient antibodies were generated by the Sinovac and BioNTech products to fend off Omicron. The results, released on Tuesday, were the first-published preliminary data on the impact of Sinovac's vaccine against the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
According to the researchers, the study has now been accepted for publication in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal. It showed that none of the 25 Sinovac vaccine recipients turned up with sufficient antibodies to neutralise the Omicron variant; only five of them had neutralising ability (not from antibodies), and vaccine efficiency was reduced significantly to 20-24%.
Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine produced some antibodies against Omicron but showed no neutralisation, according to Penny Moore, a professor at Johannesburg’s University of The Witwatersrand, which conducted the study.
The virologist said that laboratory experiments were conducted on blood plasma samples from people who had had two doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine or the J&J single-shot inoculation. Although the vaccine appeared to provide some protection against Omicron, it is most likely from some other means such as stimulation of immune cells as opposed to neutralising antibodies.
None of the pharmaceutical firms have yet responded to the results of the lab studies on Omicron, although a Sinovac spokesperson told the Reuters news agency that the company's own laboratory testing had shown the effectiveness of the third dose of its vaccine.
Scientists say it is still too early to know if Omicron causes more or less severe Covid-19 than previous variants, but in the meanwhile, the fast-spreading Delta variant remains dominant worldwide.
