Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – A recent study by Sinovac BioTech found a third injection (booster) of the company’s vaccine can produce more than double the level of neutralizing antibody against the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
Sinovac conducted this study involving 20 people who had been fully vaccinated (two doses) of CoronaVac (Sinovac’s Covid-19 vaccine) and 48 other people who received three doses of the vaccine.
Seven of the 20 people from the first group and 45 from the second group had neutralizing antibodies against the Omicron variant, Sinovac said in a statement. Global Times, Thursday (16/12/2021).
Sinovac revealed data showing booster vaccine administration can effectively increase the neutralizing capacity of the vaccine against omicron variants.
Previously, University of Hong Kong researchers found that most individuals who were injected with two doses (full vaccine) of the Sinovac vaccine did not produce sufficient serum levels of antibodies against the Omicron variant of Covid-19. The same results were also found in those who received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
The study advises people who have received the Sinovac and Pfizer vaccines as soon as possible to get a booster vaccine (the third vaccine) while waiting for a vaccine that is more suitable to treat Omicron to be found, as quoted. University of Hong Kong website, Wednesday (15/12/2021).
This study was conducted on 50 volunteers, of which 25 were Sinovac vaccine recipients and the rest were Pfizer vaccine recipients. This study was to test the ability of vaccine recipient serum antibodies to neutralize omicron variants. This test also uses two variants of omicron, from South Africa and Nigeria.
From this study, it was found that none of the 25 recipients of the Sinovac CoronaVac Covid-19 vaccine had sufficient antibody serum to neutralize the Omicron variant.
In the other group, 5 out of 25 people who had been injected with the Pfizer vaccine had the ability to neutralize the omicron variant, and the vaccine efficiency was significantly reduced to 20-24%. Compared with the original strain of Covid-19, the neutralizing antibody titer against the Omicron variant has decreased 36 – 40-fold.
The research itself was led by Yuen Kwok Yung, a highly respected professor at the University of Hong Kong. The research has also been published in the medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
(roy/roy)
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