J&J's Shot Loses Antibody Protection Against Omicron: Study

Johnson Johnsons vaccine loses antibody protection to Omicron: J&J vaccine is said to produce no effectiveness against Omicron variant of COVID-19 as per the latest study. Even though the overall efficiency of almost all vaccines are low in face of Omicron, the results for J&J is not encouraging and so the situation may be alarming for those inoculated with the J&J vaccine.

In a recent study for a laboratory experiment conducted on the Johnson & Johnson's vaccine, it is found that it produces no effectiveness in form of antibody protection against the Omicron variant of COVID-19. This underlines how the new strain is able to bypass the defence of the antibodies produced by the J&J vaccine.

Studies Suggest J&J's Vaccine Loses Antibody Protection Against Omicron:

Professor Penny Moore, Associate Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand and South African Research Chair of Virus-Host Dynamics observes-

• The vaccine provides some defence against the Omicron variant perhaps by other means like the stimulation of immune cells(cells of the immune system that helps fight infections and other diseases).
• Laboratory experiments were conducted on people inoculated with double doses of Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE vaccine and those who received the J&J's vaccine shot.
• For those who received the Pfizer shot, the antibody levels fell from 1419 against the original COVID-19 strain to 80 against the Omicron variant.
• For those who received the J&J shot, the antibody fell from 303 against the original strain to undetectable levels against Omicron.
• As there was no detectable neutralisation in assays, the situation is more alarming for the J&J vaccine
• Omicron exhibits substantial escapes from the antibodies.

Johnsons & Johnson referred to an earlier statement -"company is testing serum from participants in its booster studies to look for neutralising activity against Omicron while pursuing variant-specific vaccine that it will progress as needed".

Head of R&D at Janssen pharma unit of J&J, Mathai Mammen said, "the company is confident in robust humoral and cell-mediated immune response elicited".

Suggested Reading:

Health Ministry Says Omicron Five Times More Infectious: 10 Things You Should Know

About Omicron:

Omicron is a new variant of the COVID-19 virus that was first discovered in South Africa in November 2021. While the people infected with the new variants display less severe symptoms and hospitalisation, the increase in the number of cases is turning to be the cause of concern for various countries. In India, a total of 40 people have been infected with the Omicron virus.