Study: Pfizer vaccine much less effective against omicron

Army Sgt. Heidy Bucheli, noncommissioned officer in charge of anesthesiology at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, prepares a COVID-19 vaccination for children ages 5 to 11 at LRMC in Landstuhl, Germany, Nov. 18, 2021. LRMC, the largest American hospital overseas, began COVID-19 vaccinations for children ages 5 to 11, becoming one of the first military treatment facilities overseas to vaccinate that patient population. (U.S. Dept. of Defense photo by Marcy Sanchez)
Army Sgt. Heidy Bucheli, noncommissioned officer in charge of anesthesiology at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, prepares a COVID-19 vaccination for children ages 5 to 11 at LRMC in Landstuhl, Germany, Nov. 18, 2021. LRMC, the largest American hospital overseas, began COVID-19 vaccinations for children ages 5 to 11, becoming one of the first military treatment facilities overseas to vaccinate that patient population. (U.S. Dept. of Defense photo by Marcy Sanchez)

As President Biden urges Americans to get booster shots to protect themselves against omicron, a new study indicates the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is considerably less effective against the new variant.

There are 40 times fewer antibodies in recipients of the Pfizer vaccine to fight omicron than there are for other variants, according to a pre-print study made available Tuesday by researchers at the African Health Research Institute.

So far, the omicron variant, detected in at least 19 U.S. states and nearly 50 countries since the Thanksgiving holiday, appears to be much more contagious than the common delta strain but milder in its impact, according to researchers. The omicron variant has more mutations than any other variant, with a total of 50, including 30 on its spike protein, which is the part of the virus targeted by the vaccines.

The participants in the study were vaccinated but had not received a booster shot.

Pfizer/BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson are both working on a vaccine to target omicron. Moderna said it’s developing a booster shot for omicron that could be ready by March.

‘On Wednesday, BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin said that when the new omicron vaccine comes out, people will probably need three shots to be fully vaccinated. That means those who are getting a booster shot now likely will need to have a total of six shots to comply with the official guidance.

However, Kyle Lamb, a researcher for Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, pointed out that in South Africa, where about 75% of the cases are omicron, the fatality rate has gone down.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Last year, America’s doctors, nurses and paramedics were celebrated as frontline heroes battling a fearsome new pandemic. Today, under Joe Biden, tens of thousands of these same heroes are denounced as rebels, conspiracy theorists, extremists and potential terrorists. Along with massive numbers of police, firemen, Border Patrol agents, Navy SEALs, pilots, air-traffic controllers, and countless other truly essential Americans, they’re all considered so dangerous as to merit termination, their professional and personal lives turned upside down due to their decision not to be injected with the experimental COVID vaccines. Biden’s tyrannical mandate threatens to cripple American society – from law enforcement to airlines to commercial supply chains to hospitals. It’s already happening. But the good news is that huge numbers of “yesterday’s heroes” are now fighting back – bravely and boldly. The whole epic showdown is laid out as never before in the sensational October issue of WND’s monthly Whistleblower magazine, titled “THE GREAT AMERICAN REBELLION: ‘We will not comply!’ COVID-19 power grab ignites bold new era of national defiance.”

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This article was originally published by the WND News Center.

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