SARS-CoV-2 Omicron has extensive but incomplete escape of Pfizer BNT162b2 elicited neutralization and requires ACE2 for infection.

ABSTRACT: The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron, first identified in Botswana and South Africa, may compromise vaccine effectiveness and the ability of antibodies triggered by previous infection to protect against re-infection (1). Here we investigated whether Omicron escapes antibody neutralization in South Africans, either previously SARS-CoV-2 infected or uninfected, who were vaccinated with Pfizer BNT162b2. We also investigated if Omicron requires the ACE2 receptor to infect cells. We isolated and sequence confirmed live Omicron virus from an infected person in South Africa and compared plasma neutralization of this virus relative to an ancestral SARS-CoV-2 strain with the D614G mutation, observing that Omicron still required ACE2 to infect. For neutralization, blood samples were taken soon after

SUBMITTER: Cele S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8669855 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature