Day: June 17, 2022

People infected with the earliest version of the omicron variant of the coronavirus, first identified in South Africa in November, may be vulnerable to reinfection with later versions of omicron even if they have been vaccinated and boosted, new findings suggest.

Vaccinated patients with omicron BA.1 breakthrough infections developed antibodies that could neutralize that virus plus the original SARS-CoV-2 virus, but the omicron sublineages circulating now have mutations that allow them to evade those antibodies, researchers from China reported on Friday in Nature.

Omicron BA.2.12.1, which is now causing most of the infections in the United States, and omicron BA.5 and BA.4, which account for more than 21% of new U.S. cases, contain mutations not present in the BA.1 and BA.2 versions of omicron.

Those newer sublineages “notably evade the neutralizing antibodies elicited by SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination,” the researchers found in test-tube experiments.

The monoclonal antibody drugs bebtelovimab from Eli Lilly and cilgavimab, a component of AstraZeneca’s Evusheld, can still effectively neutralize BA.2.12.1 and BA.4/BA.5, the experiments also showed.

But vaccine boosters based on the BA.1 virus, such as those in development by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, “may not achieve broad-spectrum protection against new omicron variants,” the researchers warned.

Previous research that has not yet undergone peer review has suggested that unvaccinated people infected with omicron are unlikely to develop immune responses that will protect them against other variants of the coronavirus.

“My personal bias is that while there may be some advantage to having an omicron-specific vaccine, I think it will be of marginal benefit over staying current with the existing vaccines and boosters,” said Dr. Onyema Ogbuagu, an infectious diseases researcher at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, who was not involved in the new study.

“Despite immune evasion, the expectation can be that vaccines will still protect against serious disease,” Ogbuagu said. “If you’re due for a booster, get a booster. What we’ve learned clinically is that it’s most important to stay up to date with vaccines” to maintain high levels of COVID-19 antibodies circulating in the blood.

Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, a microbiology and infectious diseases researcher at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, suggested that better protection might be seen with vaccines that target multiple strains of the virus or with intranasal vaccines that would increase protection from infection and transmission by generating immunity in the lining of the nose, where the virus first enters.

Garcia-Sastre, who was not involved in the research, said by the time one variant-specific vaccine becomes available, a new variant may well have taken over.

Source: Voice of America

China on Friday defended its tough “zero-COVID” policy after the U.S. ambassador said it was causing serious damage to the global economy and foreign business sentiment.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the Chinese economy is recovering from the effects of the pandemic and “facts prove” the policy mandating lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing is “suitable for China’s national conditions and has stood the test of history.”

“We have full confidence that (we can) contain the epidemic, steady the economy and achieve the goal of safe economic development,” Wang said at a daily briefing.

China has sought to eliminate outbreaks of COVID-19 with tough restrictions, while most other countries are relaxing their anti-coronavirus measures to live with the disease.

Ambassador Nicholas Burns said on Thursday that the zero-COVID policy has “had a major impact” on business sentiment, singling out as especially damaging a two-month lockdown in Shanghai, China’s largest city and key financial hub.

Most of Shanghai’s 25 million people were confined to their homes or immediate neighborhoods, and hundreds of thousands continue to remain under restrictions. Rolling lockdowns have also continued to Beijing and other cities.

Critics say the policy is disrupting global supply chains and hurting employment and consumption in China. The U.N.’s World Health Organization has called it unsustainable. China denounced the remarks as irresponsible.

Burns said in a virtual address to the Brookings Institution think tank that there were 40,000 American citizens in the Shanghai area before the pandemic, but that “lots and lots of those people have gone home.” Diplomats from Europe, Japan and other countries report similar declines, he said.

“We’re quite cognizant of the need, I think the Chinese government is quite cognizant of the need, to try to get back to a situation of normalcy,” Burns said.

He said few American companies are leaving China completely because of its continuing importance, “but from the results that I’ve read, and the conversations I’ve had with lots of business leaders here, I think there is a hesitancy to invest in future obligations until they can see the end of this.”

The U.S. and China recorded $650 billion in trade last year, and around 1,100 American companies are operating in China.

Chinese restrictions have all but ended visits by U.S. government officials and business leaders, while the number of American students has dropped sharply since China suspended issuing student visas.

“It’s difficult to convince any of my colleagues in Washington to come here if I tell them that when they do it, they’ve to quarantine for 14 days before they can have a single meeting,” Burns said. “And I understand their unwillingness to do that.”

Burns said the Chinese government is signaling that the zero-COVID policy will probably be extended at least into the beginning months of 2023.

Burns, who has declared that relations between Washington and Beijing are at their lowest point since former President Richard Nixon visited in 1972, said China’s aggressive foreign policy has intensified competition between the countries. But he said they still have multiple areas in which they can engage constructively, including on climate change, anti-narcotics measures and agricultural trade.

Burns said much of his job is focused on outreach to the Chinese public, a task made more difficult by COVID-19 restrictions and the government’s strict censorship.

A recent speech on China by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the embassy posted on China’s Twitter-like Weibo social media platform was taken down within about 2½ hours but drew large numbers of views while it was up, he said.

A second attempt to post it three days later resulted in it being censored within 20 minutes, Burns said.

“So that’s the game that they play,” he said.

Source: Voice of America