Fauci Says Omicron-Specific Vaccine Is Not Yet Needed Because Booster Shots Will Protect

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Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Wednesday that an omicron-specific coronavirus vaccine is not needed at this time because early data indicates existing booster shots bolster disease-fighting antibodies. Protection against severe illness should remain intact, though somewhat diminished.

“Our booster vaccine regimens work against omicron. At this point, there is no need for a variant-specific booster,” Fauci said at a White House coronavirus briefing. “If you are unvaccinated, you are very vulnerable not only to the existing delta surge we are experiencing but also to omicron.”

Fauci reviewed a slew of data that has emerged during the past week showing that after two doses of messenger RNA vaccines – the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots – antibodies that are a key line of immune defense lose their potency against the omicron variant.

He showed laboratory data from the National Institutes of Health that revealed a Moderna booster shot restored antibodies to what are probably protective levels; those figures will be published in a preprint study in coming days, Fauci said. Similar data was presented on Pfizer-BioNTech boosters last week.

Fauci also showed real-world data from South Africa that after two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, people’s protection against symptomatic infection from omicron plummeted to about 30 percent. But even two doses were “maintaining a degree of protection” against hospitalization – 70 percent effective – though less strong than the protection against the delta variant.

Data from the United Kingdom showed that a Pfizer-BioNTech booster shot restored protection against symptomatic illness to about 75 percent.

Collectively, the data underscores the urgency for people who are eligible for booster shots to receive them, Fauci said.

Vaccine makers have been working to revise and test their shots to combat omicron in case they are needed.

Moderna released a statement calling the data on boosters preliminary but “encouraging.” The company is formulating an omicron-specific shot, which would be ready to launch by March.

But it is also examining shorter-term strategies, including whether a higher dose of the existing booster might be more protective. Moderna is also testing multi-strain boosters that the company developed to anticipate mutations that could be present in future variants. Those results are expected next week.

(c) 2021, The Washington Post · Carolyn Y. Johnson 

{Matzav.com}

7 COMMENTS

  1. So says the doctor who calls himself “the science” and so many fools will believe him.
    Why not? He’s been wrong so many times before!
    And changed his mind to cover his evil!

  2. Omg your so confused. I’m sure your popularity has scathed your judgments majorly. I feel so bad for you sir. I wish you a Refuah Sh’lema very soon. May Hashem help you with your 5 shots. 2 boosters. 7 Masks. Be contaminated with C-19 Bekorov. That would be quintessentially karma.

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