Viral Ghost

Vaccine drugmaker Pfizer says its studies show three doses of its COVID-19 vaccine neutralized the omicron variant while two doses reduced severity. "These are studies where they try to look at how much antibody does it take to neutralize the virus in a test tube," says Dr. John O'Horo, an infectious diseases specialist at Mayo Clinic. "What they found in these studies is that you need a significantly higher titer, or concentration of antibodies, to neutralize omicron compared to delta or the previous variants. However, what they also found is that it will still neutralize at these higher titers." "The good news here is that there isn't a complete immune escape. This is telling us that there will still be some effect from the antibody portion and, in all likelihood, from the vaccines. But at the same time, we expect there to be some decrease based on requiring this higher concentration." To learn more, watch Dr. John O'Horo talk about why getting a COVID-19 vaccine is more important than ever. For the safety of its patients, staff and visitors, Mayo Clinic has strict masking policies in place. Anyone shown without a mask was recorded prior to COVID-19 or recorded in an area not designated for patient care, where social distancing and other safety protocols were followed. FOR THE PUBLIC: More health and medical news on the Mayo Clinic News Network.