Joe Biden says he has a 'good news' to share on Omicron

New Delhi : The US President Joe Biden on Wednesday praised the report that Pfizer/BionTech's Covid-19 vaccine's booster dose can work against Omicron variant of coronavirus.

The US president said, "Pfizer lab report came back saying that the expectation is that the existing vaccines protect against Omicron. But if you get the booster, you’re really in good shape". Biden said that it was an encouraging development, and added, “That’s the lab report. more studies are going on. But that’s very, very encouraging".

Pfizer in its report has said that two doses may have not been sufficient to fight Omicron but the booster dose can give effective protection against the new strain. The two companies warned that "the Omicron variant is probably not sufficiently neutralised after two doses."

According to early laboratory research using blood serum from vaccinated people, a booster third dose generated around the same level of antibodies against Omicron as is seen after a second dose with the initial strain.

Omicron was recently spotted in South Africa and following that several nations had imposed travel restrictions. Despite that the variant has been found in more than two dozen nations, including India.

Omicron is believed to be less deadly that the Delta version but at the same time it is highly transmissible.

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