Three doses of Pfizer vaccine are able to deliver high protection against the Omicron variant. This was assured by Albert Bourla, CEO of the American pharmaceutical giant, on the basis of a laboratory study.
“To be clear with listeners – Bourla explained to Nbcnews – three doses of the vaccine are as effective against Omicron as the two doses were effective against the other variants. There booster dose enormously increases the effectiveness of the vaccine”. Through a note, Pfizer also clarifies that “two doses can still provide protection against the severe form of the disease” but “may not be sufficient to protect against infection” caused by Omicron.
The words of the CEO of Pfizer come a few hours after the release of the first data of a study - not subjected to peer review, it must be emphasized - conducted by the Africa Health Research Institute. According to the scientists, with Omicron there would be an “obvious reduction” in the protection offered by the vaccine – with the ordinary cycle (therefore two doses) – against the variant.
“Preliminary results of laboratory studies show that 3 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine neutralize the Omicron variant while 2 doses show a significantly reduced neutralizing capacity. The data indicate that the third dose increases the neutralizing antibody titers by 25-fold compared to the second dose”, Pfizer replies today, highlighting that the antibody response “after the booster dose is comparable to that observed after 2 doses” seen against the other variants and associated with “high levels of protection”. In any case, “two doses can still provide protection against the severe form of the disease”.
In parallel Pfizer, together with their German colleague BioNTech “continue to carry on the development of a variant-specific vaccine. The first batches "are expected to be ready for delivery within 100 days" and "can be delivered in March 2022".
