Immunity after Omicron much stronger in vaccinated people

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-05-09 15:00

International

Dr Jason A. Roberts, Head, Electron Microscopy and Structural Virology, Doherty Institute

The combination of an Omicron infection and COVID-19 vaccination provides much stronger protection than the virus alone against variants including Delta and multiple Omicron subvariants, according to international research which tested antibody responses in a small group of early Omicron patients. 15 participants had been vaccinated with either Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson, and 24 were unvaccinated. The researchers say about a month after infection, unvaccinated Omicron patients had 2.2-fold lower antibody neutralisation against BA.1 (The original Omicron variant they were infected with), 12-fold lower Delta neutralisation and 4.8-fold lower neutralisation for the now dominant Omicron BA.2 subvariant.

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Research Springer Nature, Web page

Journal/
conference: Nature

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Africa Health Research Institute, South Africa

Funder: This study was supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates award INV-018944 (AS), National Institutes of Health award R01 AI138546 (AS), and South African Medical Research Council awards including 6084COAP2020 (AS, TdO, PLM) and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Wellcome Trust (Grant no 221003/Z/20/Z, PLM). PLM is also supported by the South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Innovation and the NRF (Grant No 98341). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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