BREAKING! China’s Study Reveals That Vaccine Protection From Third Dose Might Also Be Compromised By Omicron Variant!

Omicron Updates: A new study sponsored by China’s government involving researchers from Division of HIV/AIDS and Sex-transmitted Virus Vaccines, Institute for Biological Product Control, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control (NIFDC)- China has found that vaccine protection even from a third dose might also be compromised by the Omicron variant!

 
The sudden emergence of Omicron in early November has brought new challenges to fight against SARS-CoV-2. There are 32 mutations located within Spike protein itself, which is the key viral component that determines the infectivity and antigenicity of the virus.

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Frighteningly,15 of these 32 mutations located right at the receptor binding region (RBD) of Spike protein.
 
Alarmingly, these mutations cover almost all the key mutations of the previous VOCs (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta), including K417N, E484A, and N501Y and other known mutations which are proved to change the sensitivity of the virus to neutralization by protective antibodies.
 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867421002312
 
https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(21)00441-4
 
The presence of all these mutations in the Spike protein suggest that its susceptibility to immune protection elicited by the existing COVID-19 infection and vaccines may be altered.
 
The study team constructed the pseudotyped SARS-CoV-2 variant Omicron with all the following 32 mutations on the relevant sites on the spike along with other key mutations found in the other regions: A67 V, H69del, V70del, T95I, G142D, V143del, Y144del, Y145del, N211del, L212I, ins214EPE, G339D, S371L, S373P, S375F, K417N, N440 K, G446S, S477N, T478 K, E484A, Q493R, G496S, Q498R, N501Y, Y505H, T547 K, D614G, H655Y, N679 K, P681H, N764 K, D796Y, N856 K, Q954H, N969 K, and L981F. 
 
The sensitivity of 28 serum samples from COVID-19 convalescent patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 original strain was tested against pseudotyped Omicron as well as the other viruses of concern (VOCs, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta) and viruses of interest (VOIs, Lambda, Mu).
 
The study findings indicated that the mean neutralization ED50 of these sera against Omicron decreased to 66，which is about 8.4 folds compared to the D614G reference strain (ED50 = 556), whereas the neutralization activity of other VOC and VOI pseudotyped viruses decreased only about 1.2-4.5 folds.
 
The stu dy finding from the in vitro assay suggest that Omicron variant may lead to more significant escape from immune protection elicited by previous SARS-CoV-2 infection and perhaps even by existing COVID-19 vaccines.
 
The study findings also found that although a third-dose enhancement strategy can significantly boost immunity, protection from Omicron may be compromised.
 
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed journal: Emerging Microbes & Infections. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/22221751.2021.2017757
 
The study is one of the earliest, peer-reviewed studies looking into the Omicron variant of COVID-19 and the findings suggests that individuals previously infected with COVID, and those vaccinated, will have some, “stronger than basic” defense against this new strain of concern.
 
Alarmingly however, the test tube or ‘in-vitro’ samples of Omicron examined in this new research do show it “exceeds” all other variants in its potential capability to evade the protection gained from previous infection or vaccination.

Schematic Illustration of Omicron Spike. All of the 32 mutations were located on Omicron Spike, which was used to construct the pseudotyped Omicron virus. B.H. The neutralization analysis of convalescent sera against Omicron, VOCs and VOIs. The neutralization activity of 28 convalescent sera from COVID-19 patients was tested. The neutralization ED50 and ratio compared to the reference strain D614G was also displayed as indicated. Data represented ED50 of three independent experiments. I. The comparison of neutralization activity against different VOCs and VOIs. J-K. The neutralization sensitivity of sera collected from convalescent patients at different time point against Omicron. The neutralization ED50 and ratio compared to the reference strain D614G was also displayed as indicated. Data represented ED50 of three independent experiments. J sera were collected 1-month after recovery; K, sera were collected 3-month after recovery; L. The heatmap of individual neutralization data. Data represented ED50 of three independent experiments. The Red to blue colour represented ED50 high to low as shown in the scale bar. CS1-CS15 sera were collected 1-month after recovery; CS16-28 sera were collected 3-month after recovery.

The study findings also suggest that although a third-dose enhancement strategy can “significantly boost immunity,” the protection from Omicron “may be compromised”- but further detailed research is needed to better understand this.
 
Lead author Dr Youchun Wang, Senior Research Fellow from the National Institutes for Food and Drug Control in China, reporting on this very early study says their study findings support recent findings in South Africa which highlight Omicron was “easy to evade immunity.”
 
He told Thailand Medical News, “We found the large number of mutations of the Omicron variant did cause significant changes of neutralization sensitivity against people who had already had COVID.”
 
He further added, “However, the average ED50 (protection level) against Omicron is still higher than the baseline, which indicated there is still some protection effect can be observed.”
Dr Wang, who is Former Chairman of the Medical Virology and Vice Chairman of the Medical Microbiology and Immunology of the Chinese Medical Association, does adds caution though.
 
Dr Wang warned that because the antibody protection in the form of previous infection or vaccination decreases gradually over a period of six months, Omicron “may be able to escape immunity even better.”
 
The Omicron Updates study findings also alarming predicts that whilst “a third-dose enhancement strategy can significantly boost immunity,” the “protection from Omicron may be compromised.”
 
The study team of 11 scientists looked at 28 serum samples from patients recovering from the original strain of SARS-CoV-2. They tested these against in-vitro Omicron samples, as well as four other strains marked ‘of concern’ by the World Health Organization (such as Delta), and two variants marked as ‘of interest’.
 
The study team said, “This study verifies the enhanced immune escape of Omicron variant, which sounds the alarm to the world and has important implications for the public health planning and the development of matching strategies.”
 
The study team states that more research, carried out not just in-vitro but in real-world studies is urgently needed to better understand Omicron. And, specifically, whether it can “escape from the vaccine-elicited immunity to cause more severe disease and death.”
 
Dr Wang added, “It needs to be re-evaluated whether the antibodies can still be effective against the Omicron variant. The exact impact to human protection may be influenced by more factors such as the infectivity of Omicron variant relative to other variants to human populations and the viral fitness of Omicron once the humans are infected.”
 
He said, “More population studies including the level of immune protection and symptoms among people infected with Omicron are needed to fully establish the global impact of Omicron to the control of COVID-19 pandemic.”
 
The key caveat of this study is that it is in-vitro in nature and that it used pseudotyped (manufactured) viruses.
 
However, previous studies have used in-vitro as an established measure of “good correlation” and the current vaccine literature “has established that the in vitro neutralization assays are good predictors of vaccine protection efficacy and real-world vaccine effectiveness.”
 
Hence, the study team states, their data “may well predict the potential reduction of vaccine protection against the new Omicron variant.”
 
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Read Also: Individuals who received booster shots also contracted the Omicron variant! 
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/omicron-is-now-in-more-than-67-countries-including-in-jordan-singapore-reports-cases-of-those-who-had-booster-shots-still-contracting-the-variant