Pfizer says 3 doses of its vaccine ‘effective’ against Omicron

8 December 2021, 2:34 pm

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A doctor transfers Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine into a syringe, December 2, 2021, at a mobile vaccination clinic in Worcester, Massachusetts. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

The coronavirus vaccine developed jointly by BioNTech and Pfizer is “still effective” against the Omicron variant of the virus after three doses, the German company says in a statement.

An Omicron-specific version of the shot, currently in development by BioNTech, will be available “by March,” it adds.

The statement comes hours after research was released by the South Africa-based Africa Health Research Institute showing that the Omicron variant “escapes antibody immunity induced by the Pfizer-BioNTech (Comirnaty) vaccine.”