Pfizer and BioNTech’s Omicron-targeted Covid-19 vaccines elicit a strong immune response, significantly outperforming their previous vaccine at tackling the most prevalent variant, according to new data.
The US drugmaker and its German partner said on Saturday they plan to discuss the data with global regulators, who meet next week for talks about co-ordinating a switch to new vaccines which target the Omicron strain of the virus.
The companies created two vaccines to be given as boosters: a monovalent targeted to Omicron, and a bivalent, which contained the original strain and the genetic code for the Omicron variant. The one-strain vaccine elicited a 13.5-fold increase in neutralising antibodies at the lower dose, and a 19.6-fold rise at a higher dose. The two-strain vaccine boosted antibody levels between 9.1- and 10.9-fold.