New findings suggest that people infected with an early version of the Omicron version of the coronavirus, first identified in South Africa in November, may be vulnerable to reinfection with later versions of Omicron, even if they are vaccinated. Gone and extended.
Researchers in China reported Friday in Nature that vaccinated patients with successful infection with Omicron BA.1 have developed antibodies that can neutralize that virus and the original SARS-CoV-2 virus, but the now circulating Omicron sublineage have mutations that allow them to evade those antibodies. , Adolfo GarcÃa-Sastre, a microbiology and infectious disease researcher at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, suggests that better protection may be seen with vaccines that target multiple strains of the virus or with intranasal vaccines. Will increase protection against infection and transmission by generating immunity in the lining of the nose, where the virus first enters.
New findings suggest that people infected with an early version of the Omicron version of the coronavirus, first identified in South Africa in November, may be vulnerable to reinfection with later versions of Omicron, even if they are vaccinated. Gone and extended.
Researchers in China reported Friday in Nature that vaccinated patients with successful infection with Omicron BA.1 have developed antibodies that can neutralize that virus and the original SARS-CoV-2 virus, but the now circulating Omicron sublineage have mutations that allow them to evade those antibodies. ,
Mutations occur in Omicron BA.2.12.1, which is currently causing the most infections in the United States, and Omicron BA.5 and BA.4, which now account for more than 21% of new US cases Which are not present in BA.1. and Omicron’s BA.2 version.
The researchers found in test-tube experiments, “those new sublines” specifically evaded SARS-CoV-2 infection and neutralizing antibodies elicited by vaccination.
The monoclonal antibody drugs bebetalovimab from Eli Lilly and silgavimab, a component of AstraZeneca’s Evuseld, can still effectively neutralize BA.2.12.1 and BA.4/BA.5, experiments also showed.
But vaccine boosters based on the BA.1 virus, such as those developed by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, “may not achieve broad-spectrum protection against new omicron variants,” warn the researchers.
