Pfizer/BioNTech says three doses ‘effective’ against Omicron: WHO fears Omicron could spur fresh vaccine hoarding

Geneva: The World Health Organisation said on Thursday it remained unclear whether additional Covid-19 vaccine doses are needed to protect against the new Omicron variant, and urged wealthy countries to avoid hoarding the jabs.

The UN health agency’s vaccine advisors warned that a rush to stockpile more jabs, especially without clear evidence they are needed, would only exacerbate the already glaringly inequal vaccine access around the globe.

"As we head into whatever the Omicron situation is going to be, there is a risk that the global supply is again going to revert to high-income countries hoarding vaccine to protect (their populations) ... in a sense in excess," WHO vaccines chief Kate O’Brien told reporters.

Her comment came after preliminary results published Wednesday indicated that three doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine were needed to obtain the same level of protection against Omicron as two doses provided against the initial strain.

O’Brien said the WHO was examining the data, and that it may turn out that "additional doses have benefit to provide added protection against Omicron", but stressed it was still "very early days".

While there was still little evidence that additional doses were needed to protect against developing severe Covid disease, many vulnerable people and health workers in poorer nations have yet to receive a single dose and remain at great risk.

O’Brien pointed out that the world had only just begun addressing the dangerous inequity in vaccine access in the past two months, with more donated doses and large shipments going to underserved countries.

"We have to make sure that it continues," she said, warning that efforts by wealthy countries to stockpile more jabs for their people would only prolong the pandemic. "It’s not going to work from an epidemiologic perspective, and it’s not going to work from a transmission perspective, unless we actually have vaccine going to all countries," she said.

"Where transmission continues ... is where the variants are going to come from," she warned, urging "a much more rational global perspective from countries about what’s actually going to shut down this pandemic."

Meanwhile, two doses of the BioNTech and Pfizer coronavirus vaccine may not be enough to protect against the Omicron strain, the companies warned Wednesday, but they stressed it was "still effective" after a third jab.

The companies’ news was called reassuring by experts, and came as the first independent data from labs around the world emerged, suggesting that the new variant is better at evading vaccine-trained immunity than those before it.

In preliminary results published on Wednesday, Pfizer and BioNTech said their vaccine "is still effective in preventing Covid-19, also against Omicron, if it has been administered three times". But they warned that "the Omicron variant is probably not sufficiently neutralised after two doses."

According to early laboratory research using blood serum from vaccinated people, a booster third dose generated around the same level of antibodies against Omicron as is seen after a second dose with the initial strain.

Blood samples from around 20 people who had received two doses of the current vaccine showed on average a 25-fold reduction in neutralising antibodies compared to the early strain of the virus, the companies said.

But they added that another part of the immune response -- from T cells -- were probably still effective against the variant, adding that "vaccinated individuals may still be protected against severe forms of the disease". Their results have not been peer reviewed.

"We still need to be very measured and take a wait and see approach, but I think what we do have is at least encouraging," virologist Angela Rasmussen of Canada’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization told AFP.

"Boosters will definitely be helpful in keeping the rate of Omicron breakthrough slower," she added. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday summarized what is so far known about Omicron -- it poses higher infection risks to people who have already had the virus or been vaccinated than previous variants, and there is a preliminary indication it could cause milder disease.

But even if confirmed to be less severe, the variant is likely even more transmissible than Delta, meaning it could reach and thus sicken more people. Speaking at a press conference, BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin said that reducing the time required between second and third doses of the vaccine was the "right way to go" to increase protection through the winter.

The United Kingdom has begun giving booster shots to individuals at least three months after their second dose, while the delay to receive an additional shot is longer elsewhere. In a related development, an Australian couple plans to shell out tens of thousands of dollars hiring a private jet to fly their stranded dog home from New Zealand in time for Christmas.

Munchkin, a former Bali street dog, is stuck in New Zealand unable to travel to her owners’ home on Australia’s Sunshine Coast due to Covid border rules and flight disruptions.

Owner Tash Corbin said after a five-month separation from Munchkin and her fiance, David Daynes, she had decided to hire a private jet costing Aus$45,000 (US$32,000) for her pooch and partner’s trip to Australia.

"The money part is not the number one driver, it’s about who can most certainly get them home before Christmas," she told AFP. "Christmas is a really big deal for us... I just want us all to be together."

Pandemic-related disruptions mean there are few flights operating between New Zealand’s South Island and airports near the Sunshine Coast. Meantime, president Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia will dispatch virus specialists to South Africa to establish a Covid-19 lab there after the discovery of the new variant Omicron.

Russia’s leader made the pledge during a telephone call with his counterpart from South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, who thanked Russia for its cooperation, the Kremlin said in a statement.