Professor ranks best booster vaccines to repel new Omicron variant – best to worst

Vaccines may be less effective against new variant says doctor

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The UK is on high alert after cases of a new strain of coronavirus have been detected on its shores. The new variant – dubbed Omicron – contains mutations that may outsmart some of the immune response offered from the current vaccines. In response, the booster programme is being extended to all adults over 18 in a bid to bolster people’s defences.

Data is yet to emerge on how efficacious the current coronavirus vaccines will prove against the new variant.  

“Vaccines used in the UK and globally have been designed against the wild type [of coronavirus] and not engineered towards the new variants,” explained professor Wei Shen Lim, Chair, Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

As he pointed out, the larger the “mismatch” between the vaccines and new variants increases the likelihood of immune escape.

However, the booster shots supercharge the immune response so offer the best weapon against new variants, noted prof professor Lim. 

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