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JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli researchers said on Saturday that they found that a three-shot course of the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer/Bioantek (PFE.N) (22UAy.DE) provided significant protection against the new Omicron variant.
The results were similar to those presented by BioNTech and Pfizer earlier in the week, which was an early indication that booster shots could be key to protecting against infection from the newly identified variant.
The study, conducted by the Sheba Medical Center and the Central Laboratory of Virology of the Ministry of Health, compared the blood of 20 people who received two doses of the vaccine 5-6 months ago with the same number of individuals who received a booster dose a month ago.
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A health worker prepares a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech, at Penda Health Center in Nairobi, Kenya, December 9, 2021. REUTERS/Baz Ratner/File Photo
“People who received the second dose 5 or 6 months ago do not have any neutralizing ability against Omicron. While they have some against Delta (strain),” said Gilly Regev Yochai, director of the Infectious Diseases Unit in Sheba. reporters.
“The good news is that with the booster dose it increases about a hundredfold. There is significant protection for the booster dose. And it’s less than the neutralizing ability against delta, about four times less,” she said.
The Israeli team said they worked with the actual virus while the companies used what is known as a pseudovirus, which has been biologically engineered to have the mutagenic features characteristic of omicron.
The Israeli research follows a study from South Africa that found that the alternative Omicron could partially evade protection from two doses.
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(Covering) Written by Ari Rabinovitch and Editing by David Evans
Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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