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Pfizer Vaccine Less Effective Against Omicron Than Beta Variant, South Africa Study Reveals [How Does Any Booster Help?]
Nation and State ^ | 12/07/2021 | Tyler Durden

Posted on 12/07/2021 1:11:08 PM PST by SeekAndFind

Earlier this afternoon we wondered what time the traditional late day selloff would hit.

What time does the dump start today — zerohedge (@zerohedge) December 7, 2021

The answer - just after 3pm, because that's when we got the latest troubling news about the new covid strain: according to Bloomberg, which cited the research head of a laboratory at the Africa Health Research Institute in South Africa, Omicron’s ability to evade vaccine and infection-induced immunity is “robust but not complete.”

In the first reported experiments gauging the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines against the worrisome new strain, researchers at the institute found that the variant could partially evade the vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech. Still, as South Africa's Alex Sigal said "evasion wasn’t complete and a booster shot could provide additional protection" suggesting that this is yet another pitch for booster shoots.

The study on 12 people found that using blood plasma shows a 40x reduction in neutralization capacity of Pfizer (PFE) vaccines vs Omicron COVID-19 variant, although vaccines likely protect against severe diseases.

Sigal’s laboratory was the first to isolate the beta variant. As Sigal adds, the variant still targets ACE-2 inhibitor and the news is "generally good."

Results are preliminary and subject to change.

The work in Sigal’s lab involved testing blood plasma from people who were vaccinated against Covid-19 to gauge the concentration of antibodies needed to neutralize, or block, the virus. The results, along with those from other labs currently under way, will help determine whether or not existing Covid vaccines need to be altered to protect against omicron.

The news comes as the WSJ notes that Omicron variant "is weeks away from becoming the dominant strain in parts of Europe, government officials and scientists say, as emerging evidence from the U.K., Norway and South Africa suggests that vaccines may offer significant protection against severe illness with the variant."

The evidence is likely to reinforce government efforts to broaden vaccination coverage and offer booster shots.

The silver lining is that, as we have previously reported, cases so far have overwhelmingly been mild. Officials in Norway say that is likely because so many of the infections have been in vaccinated people. Many cases are still only a few days old, however, and scientists say it is too soon to be sure whether the level of disease severity reported reflects some property of Omicron itself, or is a result of factors such as the protection afforded by vaccination or prior infection, or age.

Still, the variant has triggered border closures world-wide in the run-up to Christmas and sparked new anxiety over how soon the world will be able to put the pandemic behind it. The picture emerging from labs in South Africa, the focus of the Omicron outbreak, and increasingly from Europe is that the variant is likely more transmissible than previous versions of the virus and may be able to more easily sidestep the immunity from prior infection or vaccination. It displays dozens of mutations, some linked to faster spread and some whose properties are entirely unknown.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: omicron; pfizer; vaccine; variant
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1 posted on 12/07/2021 1:11:08 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

So now they’re battling over who has the least effective shot? Crazy town.


2 posted on 12/07/2021 1:13:24 PM PST by rktman (Destroy America from within? Check! WTH? Enlisted USN 1967 to end up with this? 😕)
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To: SeekAndFind

Get your booster, macht schnell!


3 posted on 12/07/2021 1:19:49 PM PST by EEGator
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To: SeekAndFind
[How Does Any Booster Help?]

Less and less as time goes on since it is still the original formula based on the original virus and more and mutations occur (and these are now mutations of the mutations of the mutations...).

Moderna is the only one who has a different "booster" formulation, but even it is still based on the original virus. The others are the same exact shot.

4 posted on 12/07/2021 1:26:10 PM PST by Republican Wildcat
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To: Republican Wildcat

All you’ve got to do, is think about how the original jab
protected you from the Delta variant. It didn’t.

There’s your answer. It WILL NOT protect you from Omicron.

They like to claim there’s overlap, and of course it will
prevent you from being hospitalized or dying.

Tell that to the families of an awful lot of dead people.


5 posted on 12/07/2021 1:31:04 PM PST by DoughtyOne (Democrats, fixing things that haven't been broken, so they don't work, for over 197 years.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Scientists Claim ‘Smoking Gun’ Link Between Covid Vaccine and Lethal Blood Clots

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/scientist-smoking-gun-blood-clots-astrazeneca-vaccine/


6 posted on 12/07/2021 1:35:47 PM PST by GailA (Constitution vs evil Treasonous political Apparatchiks, Constitutional Conservative.)
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To: All

It is ridiculous that we have to dig through nuance. Here is the key sentence in the whole article:

“Many cases are still only a few days old, however, and scientists say it is too soon to be sure whether the level of disease severity reported reflects some property of Omicron itself, or is a result of factors such as the protection afforded by vaccination or prior infection, or age.”

You have to get to the very last word to realize that everything being told to us is useless. Their samples are young. Simply that. Vax or unvax is overwhelmed in meaning vs being young. Of course symptoms are mild. The old people are getting away from it and the samples they have are young.

The young haven’t been at much risk from day 1. Why are they feeding us crap about symptom magnitude when they have no data from the only people at risk?


7 posted on 12/07/2021 1:39:44 PM PST by Owen
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To: EEGator

8 posted on 12/07/2021 1:39:49 PM PST by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. #FJB)
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To: SeekAndFind

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/12/least-3-children-die-120-hospitalized-vietnam-receiving-pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-4-adults-die-vero-cell-covid-vaccine/
The CDC director of Thanh Hoa Province in Vietnam has suspended the use of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine batch after 120 teens were hospitalized after a group vaccination at school.


9 posted on 12/07/2021 1:40:00 PM PST by GailA (Constitution vs evil Treasonous political Apparatchiks, Constitutional Conservative.)
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To: DoughtyOne

FDA Alert: Gilead Issues A Voluntary Nationwide Recall Of Two Lots Of Veklury (Remdesivir) Due To Presence Of Glass Particulates

https://www.drugs.com/fda/gilead-issues-voluntary-nationwide-recall-two-lots-veklury-remdesivir-due-presence-glass-14494.html?hash2=d36caf827488835023e24a6cebcecc19&utm_source=ddc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=FDA+Safety+Alert++Gilead+Issues+A+Voluntary+Nationwide+Recall+Of+Two+Lots+Of+Veklury++++Remdesivir++Due+To+Presence+Of+Glass+Particulates


10 posted on 12/07/2021 1:42:07 PM PST by GailA (Constitution vs evil Treasonous political Apparatchiks, Constitutional Conservative.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Alex I’ll take I ain’t gettin’ a covid shot at all for 800 please.


11 posted on 12/07/2021 1:42:22 PM PST by V_TWIN (America...so great even the people that hate it refuse to leave)
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To: SeekAndFind

It helps big pharma’s coffers, obviously. It’s all about the Benjamin’s at this point. And control, let’s not forget control.


12 posted on 12/07/2021 1:42:35 PM PST by AFreeBird
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To: GailA

The silver lining is that, as we have previously reported, cases so far have overwhelmingly been mild. Officials in Norway say that is likely because so many of the infections have been in vaccinated people. Many cases are still only a few days old, however, and scientists say it is too soon to be sure whether the level of disease severity reported reflects some property of Omicron itself, or is a result of factors such as the protection afforded by vaccination or prior infection, or age.

Its mild, it is much more transmissible, it infects the ineffective vaccinated. The item that takes time.... It may provide natural immunity when recovered. This is the first indication of the end. If the protection is like cowpox to smallpox, (ONEHUNDREAD TIMES MORE IMPACTFUL than COVID), with this new varait being much closer genticaly than the pox virus pair, this is great news.

Now can we unload the political weapons we have given to public health officials?


13 posted on 12/07/2021 1:58:31 PM PST by protoconservative (Been Conservative Before You Were Born )
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To: protoconservative

You missed the most important word. Age.

It is by no means the first or last indication of anything. Their samples are young. Of COURSE symptoms are mild. They have been mild from day 1 in the young.

Let’s have a proper test. Lets see number of dead among 10,000 65+ year olds who catch Delta and compare that to the number dead who catch Omicron. Do that for vaxed and unvaxed.

Until then, they must stop with the Wall Street fodder claiming symptoms are mild. It’s crap.


14 posted on 12/07/2021 2:04:31 PM PST by Owen
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To: SeekAndFind

I want to know if getting Omicron will give me immunity to Delta.


15 posted on 12/07/2021 2:09:52 PM PST by aimhigh (THIS is His commandment . . . . 1 John 3:23)
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To: GailA

Sorry to see that. Hope it doesn’t cause a long problem with
delivery of product to patients.


16 posted on 12/07/2021 2:37:58 PM PST by DoughtyOne (Democrats, fixing things that haven't been broken, so they don't work, for over 197 years.)
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To: SeekAndFind

[How Does Any Booster Help?]


It reinforces irrational good feelings of hypochondria, our ‘leaders’ hold on power and, most importantly, the ‘vaccine’ makers’ stock prices.

/s


17 posted on 12/07/2021 2:56:59 PM PST by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
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To: SeekAndFind

Minus 100% ?


18 posted on 12/07/2021 3:15:35 PM PST by butlerweave
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To: SeekAndFind

We are being told to vaccinate a third time wear your mask at all times and social distance to protect yourself from the new variant, funny. Those who have, have gotten covid and omicron and infected others, why would anyone believe their bullsh## but they do


19 posted on 12/07/2021 3:53:11 PM PST by ronnie raygun
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To: GailA

Remdesivir = “RunDeathIsNear”

/sarc


20 posted on 12/07/2021 3:59:26 PM PST by ConjunctionJunction (Vim vi repellere licet)
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