LONDON (Dispatches) -- A new research into the Omicron variant of COVID-19 suggests that people previously infected with COVID, and those vaccinated, will have some, ‘stronger than basic’ defence against this new strain of concern.
Nontheless, the test tube samples of Omicron examined in this new research do indicate that it “exceeds” all other variants in its potential capability to evade the protection gained from previous infection or vaccination.
The findings also suggest that although a third-dose enhancement strategy can “significantly boost immunity,” the protection from Omicron “may be compromised” -- but more research is needed to better understand this.
Lead author Youchun Wang, Senior Research Fellow from the National Institutes for Food and Drug Control in China said : “We found the large number of mutations of the Omicron variant did cause significant changes of neutralization sensitivity against people who had already had COVID,” .” “However, the average ED50 (protection level) against Omicron is still higher than the baseline, which indicated there is still some protection effect can be observed.”