Two-Dose Vaccine Regimen May Not Be Enough to Contain Omicron, Says Oxford Study

The study elucidating these findings is not peer-reviewed yet.

Scientists from the United Kingdom on Monday, 13 December, published results of an Oxford University study indicating that two doses COVID-19 vaccine regimens do not produce enough neutralising antibodies against the Omicron variant, news agency Reuters reported.

However, a decrease in the production of disease-fighting antibodies does not necessarily lead to severe illness, hospitalisation or death in those who have been administered two doses of the vaccine.

Matthew Snape, who co-authored the paper stated,

"These data are important but are only one part of the picture. They only look at neutralising antibodies after the second dose, but do not tell us about cellular immunity, and this will also be tested.

Matthew Snape, as per Reuters

The study elucidating these findings is yet to be peer-reviewed, and examined blood samples from entrants who were administered doses of AstraZeneca-Oxford or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, in a study looking at the mixing of vaccines.

Earlier, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had cautioned that two shots will not be enough to contain Omicron.

(With inputs from Reuters.)