COVID Vaccine: Third Dose Neutralises Omicron – Pfizer, BioNTech

Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE have said initial lab studies show a third dose of their COVID-19 vaccine neutralises the omicron variant.

The world has been thrown into a frenzy since the new variant was detected last month.

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Countries such as UK and Canada have slammed travel ban on nations with confirmed cases of the variant, including Nigeria.

In a statement, Pfizer Chief Executive Officer, Albert Bourla, said a booster with the current version of the vaccine increased antibodies 25-fold, providing a similar level as observed after two doses against the original virus and other variants.

Blood plasma from people immunised with two doses of the vaccine has neutralising antibody levels more than 25-fold less versus Omicron than against the original strain of the virus, Bloomberg quoted the companies to have said.

“It’s clear from these preliminary data that protection is improved with a third dose.”

The initial data show a third dose could offer still offer enough protection from disease, BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin, said.

The data are preliminary, as the partners continue to study the new variant.

Nigeria currently has six cases of the Omicron COVID variant.