(NBC News) Researchers drawn from the Africa Health Research Institute have found about a fortyfold reduction in Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine-induced antibodies against the Omicron Covid variant.
The researchers found that Omicron can evade antibodies generated by the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Lead author and virologist Alex Sigal says the results could change since the researchers are doing further studies.
The results have been faulted by BioNTech CEO Dr. Uğur Şahin, who says the study has limits since it is based on blood samples of 12 patients inoculated with the vaccine, but yet to get booster shots.
Philadelphia vaccine expert Dr. Paul Offit says the reduction in antibodies does not offer a clear indicator of the lack of effectiveness against the severe forms of the disease. He says real-world studies are needed since neutralizing antibodies are just a single immune system component.
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