Early animal studies by scientists around the world found that Omicron’s specific coronavirus vaccine booster was no better at preventing infection than previously available boosters. The Omicron variant of Covid-19 still dominates the world and is by far the most transmitted strain.
Numerous studies have been conducted to determine whether a third dose of the vaccine is sufficient to build immunity to Omicron. Leading vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna also announced earlier that they had begun clinical trials of their Omicron-specific shots.
David Montefiori, director of the AIDS Vaccine Laboratory, said: “What we’ve seen from these preclinical studies in animal models is that boosting with the mutant vaccine did not compare to boosting with the existing vaccine. It works better,” said researchers and developers at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, in an interview with Nature.
A report in the journal said that most of the early studies involved small groups of animals, all of which suggested that customized vaccine boosters would not change anything against Omicron. These studies have not been peer-reviewed.
According to the report, a study examined immune responses in rhesus monkeys, a type of monkey, with just eight primates, two doses of Moderna’s original vaccine and a booster shot of the same dose or a specific version of Omicron. The researchers found that monkeys boosted with both vaccines exhibited broad antibody responses to all variants of interest, including Omicron.
However, the study only examined responses up to 4 weeks, meaning it’s unclear how long the vaccine’s efficacy will last.
In another study, scientists tested a “replicating RNA” vaccine in mice. They obtained three doses of the replicating RNA vaccine — two based on the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 strain, followed by a single Omicron-specific booster — made by HDT Bio in Seattle, Washington, the report said.
Complete News Source : Hindustan Times
