A small, preliminary study in South Africa has found that the Omicron coronavirus variant partly evades the Pfizer vaccine's protection
Boosters are also likely to protect people, Alex Sigal of the Africa Health Research Institute in Durban, who led the study team, told CNN.It's the first experiment to directly look at how the Omicron virus might behave in vaccinated people.Tests in lab dishes using samples from 12 people who had been fully vaccinated with Pfizer's vaccine showed the Omicron variant could evade the immune protection built by the vaccine -- but not completely.
Importantly, the virus still attacks human cells through the same route it always has -- a molecular doorway called the ACE2 receptor."Imagine if this virus had found a different receptor to bind to?" Sigal asked."Then all of our vaccines would have been trash," he added.Sigal is quick to say this is a very early experiment involving just 12 people and samples of live virus grown in a hurry.
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