There has been great concern about the new variant causing the disease. Whether the vaccines we have work or not is something that we will learn about later.
There has been great concern about the new omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, which causes the COVID-19 disease. One of the main reasons is that it has accumulated more than 50 mutations. Scientists around the world have been working around the clock to learn more about this variant.
Available research indicates that existing vaccines, which are among the greatest public health achievements globally, will continue to protect against the most severe forms of disease, an even stronger reason to get the booster dose.
The first preliminary reports on omicron protection are data that must be interpreted as the first available evidence. Neither his findings are definitive nor does he have enough information yet. However, here we tell you what is the efficacy, according to the pharmaceutical companies?
Efficacy of omicron vaccines
Pfizer
One of the most administered vaccines in the world against COVID-19 is that of Pfizer. Their first analyzes indicated that the protective effect falls dramatically against the new variant. However, they said, a booster dose greatly increases the immune system’s defense against omicron.
A recently published preliminary study conducted by Discovery Health, South Africa’s largest private insurer, found that the vaccine from drugmaker Pfizer and German partner BioNTech provides only 33 percent protection against infection. However, the vaccine would be offering 70 percent protection against hospitalization.
Modern
The US drugmaker warned that its COVID-19 vaccines might not be as effective against the omicron variant. So said the CEO of the drug manufacturer Moderna. which stated that its dosages are unlikely to be as efficient as they have been against previous variants.
Moderna has yet to release any official results on the efficacy of its omicron vaccine, but company president Stephen Hoge said current vaccines likely won’t hold up as well to the new variant. Although he maintained that a booster dose should offer some protection against serious infections.
AstraZeneca
“As with any new emerging variant, we are investigating B.1.1.529 (omicron) to understand more about it and the impact on the vaccine.” The company is investigating the cases. “That will allow us to collect data from the real world against this new variant of virus,” said the British pharmaceutical company said a statement:.
For its part, a report by the UK Health Safety Agency analyzed data from 581 cases of omicron and thousands of cases of delta to calculate the efficacy of vaccines against the new variant. The analysis is based on limited data, but showed a sharp drop in the effectiveness of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
Johnson & Johnson
According to an analysis, done in South Africa, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine produced practically no protection of the antibodies against the new variant, showing that omicron has an ability to bypass a fairly representative group of defenses in the body, according to Bloomberg.
However, the company’s global director of research and development, Mathai Mammen, said in a statement: “We have started work to design and develop a new omicron vaccine and will move quickly to clinical studies if necessary.”
Sputnik
One of the vaccines that has not yet been accepted by the World Health Organization (WHO) is Sputnik. However, the Gamaleya Institute of Russia affirmed that its dose has “a high neutralizing activity” against the omicron variant, according to a preliminary study announced this Friday by its developers.
The heads of the Gamaleya Institute and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), assured that the single-dose version of the Sputnik Light vaccine, if used as a booster after two doses of Sputnik V, increases the efficacy against the new variant by 80 percent. Although an independent study affirmed this Friday that the Russian vaccine produces few or no antibodies against the new variant.
Other laboratories such as the Chinese Sinopharm or Cansino have not provided information on the new variant. However, existing vaccines should protect people who contract the omicron variant from severe COVID cases , a WHO official said. “Current vaccines are still effective against serious infections and death,” he said
In the end, experts say, if the vaccines that are currently available work or not against omicron, it is something that we will learn in more detail as the days go by, although they point out that it is less deadly than the delta variant. This is how science works. It evolves as events occur and evidence accumulates.
Source: elfinanciero.com.mx
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