Pfizer Announces Booster Dose Effective Against Omicron Variant

SALISBURY, Md. – Pfizer says booster shots are proving effective against the omicron variant.

In a statement on Monday, Pfizer-BioNTech announced that early laboratory results showed a 25-fold improvement in antibody samples from subjects with a 3rd dose compared to antibodies from subjects with waning immunity from a 2nd dose.

The preliminary results put the booster dose effective against Omicron as it is against the original COVID-19 strain. Dr. Jim Trumble of the TidalHealth Covid Response team says while this is good news, the booster itself likely won’t prevent Omicron from becoming the dominant variant and spreading in the US. He says that’s likely because of just how fast it spreads and how few people have boosters.

“Despite the fact we are working hard on this, the percentage of people you would need to have with the current boosters, this omicron is spreading too fast it will be the dominant strain in the world two weeks to a month and a month and a half tops,” he said.

Dr. Trumble also tells us the more that people get their booster shots, the less danger it will pose. He adds the booster could also prevent more people from entering hospitals.
Dr. Trumble says just over the last two weeks he has seen the number of COVID-19 patients numbers rise from 15 to 50, and that’s with no current Omicron cases.