COVID-19 booster shots significantly restore protection against mild disease caused by the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, in part reversing an otherwise steep drop in vaccine effectiveness, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Friday.
The early findings from a real-world analysis are some of the earliest data on the protection against Omicron outside of lab studies, which have shown reduced neutralizing activity against Omicron.
“These early estimates should be treated with caution, but they indicate that a few months after the second jab, there is a greater risk of catching the Omicron variant compared to Delta strain,” UKHSA Immunisation, Hepatitis and Blood Safety Department head Mary Ramsay said, adding that protection against severe disease was expected to remain higher. “The data suggest this risk is significantly reduced following a booster vaccine, so I urge everyone to take up their booster when eligible.”
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In an analysis of 581 Omicron cases, two doses of the AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines provided much lower levels of protection against symptomatic infection compared with what they provide against the Delta variant.
However, when boosted with a dose of the Pfizer vaccine, there was about 70 percent protection against symptomatic infection for people who initially received AstraZeneca, and about 75 percent protection for those who initially received Pfizer.
That compares with protection against infection with Delta following a booster of about 90 percent.
UKHSA said researchers found that Omicron had a growth advantage over Delta, and a three to eightfold increased risk of reinfection.
Two British studies that have yet to be presented publicly and three international studies suggested that Omicron cases had a 20 to 40-fold reduction in neutralizing antibodies compared with the viruses used to develop the vaccines.
UKHSA said that while no cases of Omicron had yet resulted in hospitalization or death, there was insufficient data to assess the severity of the new variant.
At current growth rates, Omicron would account for more that 50 percent of all COVID-19 infections by the middle of this month, UKHSA said.
Separately, Swiss medicines agency Swissmedic on Friday approved the vaccination of children aged five to 11 with the Pfizer jab.
“Trial results show that the vaccine is safe and effective in this age group,” it said in a statement.
A clinical trial of more than 1,500 children of that age group shows that the vaccine “offers almost complete protection against serious illness,” it said. “Side effects tended to occur less frequently than in adolescents or adults.”
The country joins Canada, Chile, Greece, Italy, Israel, Portugal, Spain and the US in allowing the vaccine for that age group.
Singapore, which has a vaccination rate of 87 percent, is to start administering COVID-19 shot for children aged five to 11 before the end of this year, the Singaporean Ministry of Health said on Friday.
Additional reporting by AFP
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