Omicron extensively but incompletely escapes Pfizer BNT162b2 neutralization

Abstract

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Breakthrough infections with SARS-CoV-2 omicron despite mRNA vaccine booster dose

“…In-vitro data suggest lower titres of neutralising antibodies against omicron compared to other SARS-CoV-2 lineages following BNT162b2 vaccination but increased titres after a third dose, 10 , 11 , 12 supporting calls for booster doses while the omicron variant appears to be spreading globally. Our study, however, demonstrates insufficient prevention of symptomatic infection in otherwise healthy individuals who had received three doses of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines.…”

Rapid and parallel adaptive mutations in spike S1 drive clade success in SARS-CoV-2

“…The potential antigenic impact of adaptive S1 mutations, which are accruing at pace over 4 times that of influenza H3N2 (Figure 2, Figure S5), suggests that it may become necessary to update the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine strain. Indeed, the emergence of the Omicron Variant of Concern demonstrated a SARS-CoV-2 virus with an extraordinarily high number of S1 substitutions [26] that spread rapidly across the world and showed significantly reduced neutralization titers relative to preceding variants [27]. With Omicron, we now know that significant antigenic variants can emerge with highly modified S1 domains.…”

Milder disease with Omicron: is it the virus or the pre-existing immunity?

“…The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 escapes immunity generated by vaccines and previous infections 1 , 2 yet seems to have some unexpected advantages over the other variants we have experienced so far. Firstly, and most importantly, strong evidence is emerging that the disease induced by infection with Omicron is considerably milder at the population level (Fig.…”

“…Studies looking at neutralizing immunity against Omicron showed that although Omicron can escape this immunity, it is essentially a numbers game. Increased levels of neutralizing antibodies owing to booster vaccines or a combination of previous infection and vaccination counteract viral escape, so that antibody neutralization against Omicron in these groups is more or less equivalent to the neutralization seen against variants such as Delta in those who are fully vaccinated but not boosted 1 , 2 . Furthermore, the levels of antibody-mediated immunity required for protection against severe disease are much lower and may be achieved by vaccination alone, even in the absence of boosters 8 .…”