South African Study Reveals Omicron Variant Can Break Pfizer And Moderna Booster Doses

Illustration of COVID-19 vaccination in Africa. (Wikimedia Commons/Davyimage)

JAKARTA - A small study of seven COVID-19 cases in South Africa showed the Omicron variant could penetrate booster vaccine injections, one of the scientists involved said on Thursday.

A total of seven visitors from Germany to Cape Town, aged between 25 and 39, became infected at some point in late November or early December with confirmed cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

A copy of the study seen by Reuters, quoted Dec. 17, said they all had only mild to moderate symptoms and none required hospitalization.

Of the group, six had been fully vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech (PFE.N) vaccine, while five had received a booster shot with the Pfizer vaccine, while another had received a booster dose with the Moderna vaccine.

Meanwhile, the seventh Seventh has received the initial dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, followed by the second and third booster doses of Pfizer. No one has reported previous infection with COVID-19.

It is known that infection occurs between one and two months after receiving the booster injection.

Wolfgang Preiser, a virologist at Stellenbosch University and one of the study's co-authors told Reuters the study is currently being peer reviewed.

He said research shows infection is possible and causes symptomatic disease even after booster doses of immunization.

However, a much larger real-world study of 581 people in the UK showed the booster vaccine significantly restored protection against mild disease caused by the Omicron variant. Part of reversing a sharp decline in vaccine effectiveness, Britain's Health Safety Agency said last week.

Scientists suspect the Omicron variant is more contagious, given its rapid spread, but say it's too early to say for sure about the severity of the disease it causes.

However, medical professionals say vaccination is still an important tool in the fight against the pandemic.

"It still protects against severe illness and death, we're pretty sure about that," Preiser said.

However, he added, "the emerging picture is that this virus is highly capable of impairing the immune response (so) it is clear that we will need an updated vaccine."