Omicron infection despite booster: First mini-study with Germans confirms suspicion
Created: 01/22/2022, 06:55
By: Franziska Schwarz
There has now been a study in South Africa on vaccination breakthroughs despite corona boosters.
© YAY Images/Imago
The investigation from South Africa confirms a suspicion about the corona variant Omicron.
However, the scientists also report positive things.
Cape Town – The corona vaccines are differently effective against Omikron than against Delta.
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) advises booster vaccination under all circumstances: three doses provide very good protection against a severe course of Covid.
Not against an infection.
Vaccine breakthroughs in second vaccinees are not uncommon.
But what about boosters?
There is now an investigation into this.
The 11-strong team of scientists speaks of the first of its kind and published it in the journal The Lancet
on January 18
.
The title, translated from English: "Vaccine breakthroughs with omicron despite booster vaccination".
The seven subjects (five women and two men) were Germans residing in Cape Town, South Africa during the case study.
They formed two groups that were not known to each other: four of them were going through a station of their medical training, the other three were on vacation.
21-day omicron study with boosted Germans
All of them had previously received their booster vaccination in Germany.
Her PCR tests on arrival in Cape Town came back negative.
Between December 30 and December 2, 2021, they then noticed respiratory symptoms themselves and subsequently tested positive for omicron, the report said.
They went into domestic isolation and kept diaries of their symptoms during the 21 days of observation.
The result of the researchers: The courses were mild to moderate in all (“moderate” defined here with shortness of breath as a symptom).
Two of the subjects were symptom-free after the 21 days, the report for
The Lancet
said .
None of the participants had to be admitted to a clinic.
Study on Booster: "Good protection against a severe course"
The scientists' conclusion: the cases suggested that Omicron could bypass immunity provided by mRNA vaccines (examples are Biontech or Moderna).
However, they emphasized that the boosters appear to offer "good protection against serious illness" since they only observed mild cases.
The informative value of the study is limited due to the small number of participants - who were also relatively young (25 to 39 years) and without previous illnesses.
Breakthrough infections in participants were observed between 22 and 59 days after their booster.
(frs)