AZ, Novavax Say Boosters Up Antibodies Against Omicron

Both Firms Are Also Working On Vaccines Tailored For The Variant

Two vaccine-makers said on Thursday that their booster shots significantly increased neutralising antibody levels against Omicron, in an encouraging sign amid rising Covid infections across the world due to the spread of the highly infectious variant.

Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, citing data from an Oxford University lab study, said on Thursday that a three-dose course of its Covid vaccine is effective against the rapidly-spreading Omicron variant. Findings from the study, yet to be published in a peer-reviewed medical journal, match those from rivals Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which have also found a third dose of their shots works against Omicron. The study on AstraZeneca’s vaccine, Vaxzevria that is known as Covishield in India, showed that after a three-dose course of the vaccine, neutralising levels against Omicron were broadly similar to those against the virus’s Delta variant after two doses. The London-listed company said researchers at Oxford who carried out the study were independent from those who worked on the vaccine with AstraZeneca.