HONG KONG – Researchers in Hong Kong urge the public to get a third dose of Covid-19 vaccine as soon as possible after a study showed the antibodies were triggered vaksin Sinovac and BioNTech is not enough to ward off Covid-19 varian Omicron.
The results of the study by the University of Hong Kong’s microbiology department released on Tuesday (12/14/2021) became the first published preliminary data on the efficacy of the Sinovac vaccine against the new variant of the coronavirus.
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None of the sera from 25 recipients of Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine contained enough antibodies to neutralize Omicron, according to the study, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Only five of the 25 recipients of the BioNTech vaccine had Omicron neutralizing capability and the vaccine’s efficiency was significantly reduced from 24 percent to 20 percent, according to the study.
“The public is advised to get the third dose of vaccine as soon as possible while waiting for a more suitable next-generation vaccine,” the researchers said in a press release.
The research, funded by the Hong Kong government, was carried out by microbiologists Yuen Kwok-yung, Kelvin To and Chen Honglin.
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Sinovac has not yet responded to questions about the results of the study, but a spokesman said their laboratory tests showed that the third dose of the vaccine was effective at producing antibodies against Omicron.
BioNTech has not yet responded to the research.
The fast-spreading Delta variant still dominates the world’s Covid-19 cases. It remains unclear whether Omicron is inherently more infectious, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a Sunday briefing.
