Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Less Effective Against Omicron: Companies

The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is less effective against the Omicron virus variant than other strains of the CCP virus, the companies said Wednesday, citing interim results from a study they’re running.

Scientists found on average a more than 25-fold reduction in neutralizing antibodies against the Omicron variant compared to the wild type, “indicating that two doses of BNT162b2 may not be sufficient to protect against infection with the Omicron variant,” the companies said in a statement.

BNT162b2 is another name for the vaccine. The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus causes COVID-19.

Antibodies help protect people from COVID-19, along with T cells.

Testing was done on samples of immune sera drawn from people who had received two or three doses of the vaccine.