J&J, Sinopharm, and Sputnik V COVID vaccines are less effective against omicron, study says

The vaccines against COVID-19 from the US pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and the Chinese Sinopharm, as well as the Russian Sputnik V, did not have neutralizing activity against the omicron variant, according to a study that has not yet been reviewed by experts. .

The omicron variant has raised concerns about its ability to circumvent the protection offered by widely used vaccines and has prompted drug manufacturers to tailor their vaccines to target it, while testing the efficacy of their existing injections.

The vaccines from Moderna, AstraZeneca and Pfizer and their partner BioNTech maintained activity against omicron, but the antibody response was significantly reduced compared to the original strain of the virus first detected in China, according to the research.

The study, conducted by Humabs Biomed SA, a unit of Vir Biotechnology and the University of Washington, among others, also found that the decline was less pronounced in vaccinated individuals who were previously infected.

The study also found that while the efficacy of GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotech’s anti-COVID-19 drug sotrovimab was reduced threefold versus omicron compared to the parent strain, the monoclonal antibody treatments from Regeneron and Eli Lilly completely lost their effectiveness. neutralizing activity against the variant.

The finding is consistent with recent laboratory tests showing that the two treatments lose most of their efficacy when exposed to the omicron variant.

In a real-world study published this week, Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine was found to have been less effective in South Africa in preventing hospitalization of people infected with the virus since the variant appeared. omicron last month.