Attapon Cheepsattayakorn^1,2*, Ruangrong Cheepsattayakorn³ and Porntep Siriwanarangsun¹

¹Faculty of Medicine, Western University, Pathumtani Province, Thailand
²10^th Zonal Tuberculosis and Chest Disease Center, Chiang Mai, Thailand
³Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand

*Corresponding Author: Attapon Cheepsattayakorn, 10^th Zonal Tuberculosis and Chest Disease Center, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Received: February 18, 2022; Published: March 01, 2022

The Omicron variant (BA.1/B.1.1.529) is characterized by mutation of an unusually high number, with 26 to 32 changes (up to 36 mutations) in the spike (S) glycoprotein [1-3], the key epitopes (target) of neutralizing antibodies [2,3]. A recent study revealed that the Omicron variant is more likely to cause reinfection than previous SARS-CoV-2 variants, indicating some immune-escape levels [4]. Recently, neutralization potency of sera mRNA-1273, BNT162b2, and Ad26.COV2.S vaccine recipients against wild-type, Delta, and Omicron SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviruses was studied and demonstrated potent neutralization of Omicron variant and 4-6-fold lower than the wild type among mRNA vaccinated individuals, indicating enhanced cross-reactivity of neutralizing antibody responses [2,4]. Polyclonal sera from persons vaccinated with two doses of the BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine and from convalescent persons showed a near-complete lack of neutralizing activity against Omicron variant, as well as different monoclonal-antibodies resistance in clinical application [2,3].

References

1. Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa (NGS-SA). “SARS-CoV-2 sequencing update”. November 26, (2021).
2. Garcia-Beltran WF., et al. “mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine boosters induce neutralizing immunity against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant”. Cell 185 (2022): 457-466.
3. Gruell H., et al. “mRNA booster immunization elicits potent neutralizing serum activity against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant”. Nature Medicine (2022).
4. Rössler A., et al. “SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant neutralization in serum from vaccinated and convalescent persons”. The New England Journal of Medicine 386 (2022): 698-700.

Citation

Citation: Attapon Cheepsattayakorn., et al. “COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters Inducing Neutralizing Immunity Against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant”. Acta Scientific Microbiology 5.4 (2022): 01.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Attapon Cheepsattayakorn., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.