Coronavirus

Pfizer Booster Shot Very Effective Against Omicron; U.K. Government Announces New Restrictions as Variant Spreads; No Cases Reported in USVI

Pfizer and BioNTech, the makers of the most widely used Covid-19 vaccine announced Wednesday that there was significant loss of protection against the Omicron variant from a two-dose regimen of their vaccine, though it still manages to beat the virus against severe illness and hospitalization. The good news, the companies said, is that the booster shot (third dose) showed significant strength against Omicron, effectively neutralizing the strain of the virus. The companies said a third dose of their vaccine increased antibodies 25-fold compared with two doses against the Omicron variant. Even with the two-dose regimen, the immune cells are able to recognize 80 percent of parts of the spike protein that the vaccine targets. According to the companies’ preliminary data, a third dose provides a similar level of neutralizing antibodies to Omicron as is observed after two doses against wild-type and other variants that emerged before Omicron. These antibody levels are associated with high ...