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 Tuesday's release of the results of a study by scientists in the
microbiology department of the University of Hong Kong was the first
published preliminary data on the impact of Sinovac's vaccine
against the Omicron variant of coronavirus.
None of the serum of the 25 Coronavac vaccine recipients contained
sufficient antibodies to neutralise the new variant, according to
the study, accepted for publication in the journal Clinical
Infectious Diseases, the researchers said.
Just five of 25 BioNTech vaccine recipients had neutralising ability
against Omicron, and vaccine efficiency was reduced significantly to
20% to 24%, the study found.
"The public is advised to get a third dose of the vaccine as soon as
possible while waiting for the next generation of a more matched
vaccine," the researchers said in a news release.
The study, funded by the Hong Kong government, was carried out by
microbiologists Yuen Kwok-yung, Kelvin To and Chen Honglin.
Sinovac did not immediately respond to questions on the study, but a
spokesperson said its own laboratory testing showed a third dose of
its vaccine was effective in producing Omicron antibodies.
BioNTech did not immediately respond to questions on the study.
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 The fast-spreading Delta
variant remains dominant worldwide, and it is
unclear if Omicron is inherently more
contagious, the World Health Organization (WHO)
said in a brief on Sunday.
Scientists say it is still too early to know if
Omicron causes more or less severe COVID-19 than
previous variants.
A study of real-world data published on Tuesday
showed Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine was
less effective in South Africa at keeping out of
hospital those infected with the virus since the
Omicron variant emerged last month.
Last week, the two firms said a three-dose
course of their vaccine had neutralised Omicron
in a laboratory test, an early sign that booster
shots could be key for protection against it.
(Reporting by Greg Torode and Roxanne Liu in
Beijing; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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