Moderna, Biontech, Astrazeneca: Omikron study shows which booster is most effective

Created: 12/21/2021, 08:38 AM

From: Tom Offinger

In view of the threat of an omicron wave, corona vaccines play an important role.

But how do Moderna, Biontech and Co. fight against the mutant?

Munich - London imposed a disaster, the Netherlands is going into a lockdown until mid-January - the Omikron variant works its way from one country to the next bit by bit.

The mutant has not yet left much of a mark in Germany, but experts like virologist Dr.

Christian Drosten are certain that this will change soon.

“Omikron is an ideal post-pandemic virus.

Germany,

] is not yet ready for the endemic situation because of the vaccine picking, ”Drosten emphasized the precarious situation surrounding the hot German vaccination campaign.

Dr.

Christian Drosten: Vaccination is the order of the day

"Boosters calms the incidence in winter, but with the current vaccination gap we do not get into the endemic situation," says Drosten.

So vaccination is the order of the day, but which of the available vaccines protects most effectively against the highly contagious variant from South Africa.

Initial studies provide information and at the same time force producers to adapt their preparations.

Study results: Moderna booster most effective

Initial studies seem to agree that the vaccine from Moderna currently guarantees the best protection. As the US manufacturer announced on Monday (December 20), a booster vaccination with a full dose is the most effective. In one study, a booster with a dose of 50 micrograms increased the level of neutralizing antibodies, which act against omicrons, in the blood of subjects who had been vaccinated three times. A booster with 100 micrograms, however, increased the antibody level by 83 times.

It is currently recommended to use 100 micrograms of Moderna vaccine for the first and second dose and 50 micrograms for the booster dose. For the laboratory study, Moderna examined blood samples from 40 subjects who had received a booster vaccination against the coronavirus 29 days earlier and who had low antibody levels before the booster. Half of the subjects were vaccinated with 50 micrograms of the Moderna vaccine and the other half with 100 micrograms. The levels of omicron-neutralizing antibodies in the blood of the test subjects were then measured.

Moderna points out, however, that these are only preliminary data.

CEO Stéphane Bancel still spoke of "reassuring" results.

Moderna is also pushing the development of an Omikron-specific vaccine.

Clinical studies could therefore begin early next year.

Investigation of vaccines: large-scale study provides results

Not only the manufacturers themselves but also scientists from the USA, Europe, South America and Australia are currently investigating the effectiveness of the vaccines. The number of neutralizing antibodies that were still present after two to four weeks was examined in test persons, which suggests that the vaccination protection was in place. This included people who had already recovered or had been vaccinated twice with Biontech, Moderna, Astrazeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Sputnik or the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm.

The results speak clearly in favor of Moderna, albeit with a clear decrease in effectiveness. “Biontech secured second place. Astrazeneca and Sinopharm do poorly. Johnson & Johnson and Sputnik equal zero ”, summarizes the US epidemiologist and health economist Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding on

.

A “halfway decent” protection can be achieved by cross-vaccinating Astrazeneca and Biontech, Feigl-Ding continues.

A study by the Frankfurt Institute for Medical Virology serves as the basis for this.

Another finding of the vaccine comparison is that a person who has recovered from a corona infection but has not been vaccinated has practically no verifiable vaccination protection against Omikron.

A vaccination in addition to a survived infection, on the other hand, has a positive effect on vaccination protection.

Study from Germany provides worrying findings

It becomes clear that the decrease in vaccination protection against the Omikron variant is great. This fact is supported by the Frankfurt study, which examined a much longer period of time and thus determined the vaccination protection of the various substances after six months. The results, which

were presented

on

by Sandra Ciesek, Director of the Institute for Medical Virology at the University Hospital Frankfurt,

are worrying: Both the double vaccination with Biontech and Moderna and a cross-vaccination from Biontech and Astrazeneca showed neutralization against Omikron after six months on. The booster vaccination from Biontech only resulted in a 25 percent neutralization after three months. In the delta variant, however, this was still 95 percent.

Only an answer to the question of whether the vaccination could prevent a serious course of the disease cannot currently be provided by the data obtained.

The study is solely concerned with the transmission of the virus.

Biontech and Co .: Manufacturers forced to adapt their fabrics

On the part of the manufacturers, the next steps are now clear: Biontech and its US partner Pfizer have already started adapting their mRNA vaccine to Omikron, the Mainz-based company announced on December 8th.

The modified variant should therefore be on the market by the end of March 2022.

Astrazeneca is currently investigating the extent to which the vector vaccine protects against omicron infection and severe disease.

The same applies to Johnson & Johnson, although the US manufacturer is working on a new vaccine in parallel.

(afp / to)