Small S.Africa patient study shows Omicron breaking through booster shots
A small study of seven COVID-19 cases in South Africa shows the Omicron variant can break through booster vaccine shots, one of the scientists involved said on Thursday.
A group of seven German visitors to Cape Town, aged between 25 and 39, were infected at some point in late November or early December with confirmed cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant.
Of the group, six were fully vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, of whom five had also had a booster Pfizer shot while the sixth had received a booster dose of the Moderna vaccine.
A seventh had received an initial dose of AstraZeneca's vaccine, followed by a second and then third booster dose of Pfizer. None had reported past infection with COVID-19.
The infections occurred between one and two months after receipt of the booster shot.
Wolfgang Preiser, a virologist at Stellenbosch University and one of the study's co-authors, told Reuters the study was currently under peer review. He said the study showed infection was possible and caused symptomatic disease even after boosted immunisation.
Comments