Antibodies From Omicron Infection Can Neutralise Other COVID Variants Including Delta: ICMR
In what could very well be another indication of the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study has found that antibodies produced as a result of an Omicron infection can effectively neutralise other variants as well.
This means that the chances of an Omicron recovered person getting reinfected with other known variants of COVID-19 including Delta are very less.
The study was conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology of Pune.
What the study says
The study was conducted on 39 individuals, of which 25 had taken both the doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, eight people had taken double doses of Pfizer jab, and six were unvaccinated.
Also, 28 of these 39 were mainly foreign returnees from the UAE, South/West/East Africa, Middle East, the US and the UK, and 11 people were their high-risk contacts. All these individuals were infected with the Omicron variant.
The participants in the study were adults from foreign countries and adolescents from India.
The study assessed the IgG antibody and Neutralizing Antibody (NAb) response in people with breakthrough and natural COVID-19 infections.
"The GMTs of neutralising antibodies of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 breakthrough individuals showed significant fold-reductions compared to B.1 against Alpha (3.23), Beta (2.38), Delta (3.23) and Omicron (4.31) variants respectively. Similarly, BNT162b2 mRNA breakthrough individuals demonstrated significant fold-reduction in GMTs of 1.52 and 7.41 for Delta and Omicron respectively," it said.
¡°Individuals infected with Omicron have a significant immune response which could neutralise not only Omicron but also other variants of concern, including the most prevalent Delta variant,¡± said the study, which is a pre-print and not peer-reviewed.
"Our study demonstrated substantial immune response in the individuals infected with Omicron. The neutralizing antibodies could effectively neutralize the Omicron and other variants of concern (VOCs), including the most prevalent Delta variant," the study stated.
The main limitation of this study is lesser participants in the unvaccinated group and the shorter window period post the infection. This could be the important reason for the low immune response specifically in the unvaccinated individuals against Omicron, the scientists stated.
The study once again gives hope that the COVID-19 pandemic could be over soon.
Recently, a top WHO official had said that COVID-19 could be entering an endemic stage in Europe.
"We anticipate that there will be a period of quiet before?Covid-19 may come back?towards the end of the year, but not necessarily the pandemic coming back," the officials had said.
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