Omicron-Specific Vaccine Administered to Monkeys... Unexpected Results from US Study

An 8-year-old child is receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for ages 5-11 at a hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, USA. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] A study has found that the protective effect of the COVID-19 Omicron variant-specific vaccine does not show a significant difference compared to the existing vaccine booster shots.

On the 4th (local time), according to major foreign media, a research team from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) recently published the results of a comparative experiment conducted on monkeys on the life sciences preprint site bioRxiv, revealing this finding.

The research team compared immune responses by administering either the existing vaccine or the Omicron-specific vaccine to monkeys who had received two doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine nine months earlier.

As a result, both booster shots significantly increased neutralizing antibody responses against all variants of concern, including Omicron, after vaccination. The research team explained that this suggests that a separate Omicron variant-specific vaccine may not be necessary.

However, this study has not yet undergone peer review.

John Moore, a professor of immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College who did not participate in the study, evaluated that these results are similar to those from Moderna booster shot experiments targeting the COVID-19 Beta variant. He added, "While the results from monkey experiments allow some predictions, we need to wait for clinical trial results in humans."

Meanwhile, Pfizer and Moderna are developing Omicron-specific vaccines aiming for release in March and fall, respectively. Both pharmaceutical companies began clinical trials for Omicron-specific booster vaccines at the end of last month.

Recently, the U.S. government announced on the 26th of last month, as reported by ABC News and others, that it is developing a 'universal vaccine' to respond to all types of coronaviruses.

As COVID-19 variants continue to be identified, existing vaccines tend to vary in effectiveness depending on the variant, but the goal is to create a vaccine effective against any variant.

Anthony Fauci, director of NIAID and chief medical advisor to U.S. President Joe Biden, said at a White House briefing that "since September 2020, five variants of concern?Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Omicron?have emerged," and "innovative approaches are needed to induce broad and durable protection against both known and unknown coronaviruses."

He added, "A universal vaccine will be a vaccine that can provide protection against coronaviruses," and stated, "The U.S. government has so far provided $43 million (approximately 51.5785 billion KRW) in research funding to various agencies for the development of a universal vaccine."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.