Von Laer: less immune defense with Omikron
The investigation also confirmed that the vaccination protection in people who had been vaccinated twice decreased significantly within a few months. Study author and virologist Dorothee von Laer therefore urgently called for booster vaccinations in an interview with the Austria Press Agency (APA).
Even those who have recovered should definitely be vaccinated to avoid renewed CoV infection, says von Laer. Initial studies from South Africa indicate that. This has implications for everyone who has not yet been vaccinated, warned the virologist: “The more vaccinated people carry the virus without symptoms, the more dangerous the situation for the unvaccinated”.
Von Laer emphasizes booster vaccination
In blood samples from those who have recovered and who have been vaccinated, an immune response against the new Omikron variant has been shown due to the neutralizing antibodies, Von Laer said of the laboratory studies in Innsbruck. But the vaccination protection decreases over time. Von Laer therefore recommended: “Those who have been vaccinated twice should get the third sting sooner rather than later”. Preliminary data from laboratory tests at the Frankfurt University Hospital would support this: “The virologist Sandra Ciesek and her team were able to show that the third prick offers good protection against Omikron,” von Laer knew. These data have not yet been checked by specialist colleagues and were published in a preprint paper on Wednesday. Biontech / Pfizer has also published similar findings.
The available results would suggest that the development of a vaccine adapted to Omikron makes sense, emphasized the virologist. “The goal would be to have a vaccine that offers additional protection”. But this is “not there yet”. Von Laer therefore urgently advised against waiting for a vaccine optimized for Omikron, but rather to get a booster vaccination as soon as possible.
Laboratory study limited to antibodies
In the now completed laboratory study, only neutralizing antibodies were examined. The immune response, however, is made up of different factors, with the so-called “killer cells” (T cells) playing a decisive role. They protect against severe courses. It can currently be assumed that the omicron mutant spreads faster and is more infectious than previous mutations. Initial studies indicate easier courses. The Innsbruck laboratory study could not yet provide any information on this because clinical studies are still pending.
In clinical follow-up studies, the Innsbruck Institute of Virology will shed light on other aspects of the immune response, such as the T cell, Von Laer ended. In addition, the focus is now on understanding “how the virus behaves and reproduces”. It is still questionable whether Omikron will displace Delta. If so, it would be all the more important to achieve a high vaccination coverage, Von Laer never tired of emphasizing.
First reactions to the Innsbruck study
The Austrian virologist Florian Krammer, who works in the USA, describes the investigation by the Innsbruck team on Twitter as “excellent work”. The first findings from laboratory tests on the ability of Omikron to bypass an established protection made the scientist from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York pensive.
Krammer had recently confirmed in a press conference that it does not pay to wait for inactivated vaccines or so-called dead vaccines. These could “not necessarily induce a good T cell response and only low neutralizing antibody titers”. In addition, the effectiveness of the immune response can be strongest here.
“We also have to be able to rely on other safety nets in our immune system,” says the researcher. If you have basically built up fewer antibodies and fewer T-cell responses, it will be easier “for a strong escape variant like Omikron to trigger a disease”. You have to admit that not all vaccines are equivalent, “we see possible differences,” said Krammer.