The vaccine made by Sinovac Biotech, one of the most widely used in the world, does not provide sufficient antibodies to neutralize the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, Hong Kong researchers said in initial lab findings that could have sweeping consequences for the millions of people relying on the Chinese shot to protect them against COVID-19.
Among a group of 25 people fully vaccinated with Sinovac’s shot, which is called Coronavac, none showed sufficient antibodies in their blood serum to neutralize the Omicron variant, said a statement from a team of researchers at the University of Hong Kong released late on Tuesday night.
In a separate group of 25 people fully vaccinated with the messenger RNA shot developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, five had neutralizing ability against the new variant, the scientists said.
Photo: AFP
That is in line with findings released last week by the companies, who said a third shot would be sufficient to protect against Omicron.
Led by Yuen Kwok-yung (袁國勇), a professor of infectious diseases at the university, the study of 50 people has been accepted for publication in the medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases and is available online as a pre-print.
While much is still unknown about how Sinovac’s shot reacts to Omicron — including how T-cells, the immune system’s weapon against virus-infected cells, will respond — the findings are a blow to those who have received the 2.3 billion doses of Coronavac shipped out, mostly in China and the developing world.
If Sinovac is found in more conclusive studies to be ineffective against Omicron, China, which has managed to insulate the vast majority of its people from COVID-19 with closed borders and strict containment measures, faces the biggest threat from the new variant, experts said.
The government has given out 2.6 billion homegrown shots — many of them Coronavac — to its population of 1.4 billion people.
Among other countries using Coronavac, previous infection waves would have conferred some natural immunity that would help ensure “no major impact” from Omicron, said Benjamin Cowling, a professor of epidemiology at the university.
However, the populations in China and Hong Kong have experienced no large-scale infection before, leaving them vulnerable.
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
RSS