A study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that the antibody response induced by the COVID-19 vaccine to Omicron subvariants declines significantly over time.
Immune responses to various subvariants of Omicron “were substantially diminished” among “all groups” of individuals who received the vaccine from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, as well as a booster dose or combinations of different vaccines. Levels of neutralizing antibodies were reduced up to fivefold three months after receiving the booster vaccine, the NIH said in a study press release earlier this week.
All vaccine combinations provided high levels of neutralizing antibodies to the initial Omicron BA.1 sublineage that was first reported in fall 2021. However, those who received the vaccine and Johnson’s booster & Johnson saw low levels of antibodies against BA.1, according to the NIH.
But when the Omicron BA.2.12.1 and BA.4/BA.5 subvariants appeared earlier this year, all the vaccines performed poorly after three months compared to the BA.1 strain, the researchers said. researchers They found that the vaccines provided even less protection against the subvariants than their ancestral COVID-19 strain known as D614G.
“Omicron strains BA.2.12.1 and BA.4/BA.5 were 1.5 and 2.5 times less susceptible to neutralization, respectively, compared to strain BA.1, and 7.5 and 12.4 times less susceptible relative to the ancestral D614G strain,” NIH wrote, noting that the BA.5 subvariant is currently the dominant variant in the United States.
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The researchers, who published their findings in Cell Reports Medicine on July 19 and have received virtually no widespread news coverage so far, said they administered COVID-19 vaccines to adults who previously received one of the three vaccines available to people at the time. . They evaluated six separate groups with about 50 participants per vaccine group who received the initial vaccine regimen and the same booster or who mixed and matched vaccines and boosters.
Ultimately, they concluded that the “immune response to Omicron sublineages shows reduced susceptibility to these rapidly emerging subvariants,” according to the NIH statement. “The data could be used to inform decisions about future vaccine schedule recommendations, including the need to increase the variant vaccine.”
Between 29 days and 91 days after receiving the boost, neutralizing antibodies among all groups decreased “2.4- to 5.3-fold for Omicron and no more than 2.4-fold for the (ancestral) D614G variant ,” the researchers wrote.
Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a study that found that the effectiveness of booster doses of the vaccine dropped below 50 percent after four months against subvariants of COVID-19. Both Moderna’s and Pfizer’s mRNA vaccines provided only 51 percent protection against COVID-19-linked urgent care encounters, emergency room visits, and hospitalizations as the Omicron BA variants. 2 and BA.2.12.1 were spreading across the United States, he found.
After about 150 days, the vaccines’ effectiveness dropped to 12 percent, the study found.
COVID-19 is caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, sometimes known as SARS-CoV-2.
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Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter for The Epoch Times based in New York.