Boosters customised for Omicron seem to offer little advantage

Boosters customised for Omicron seem to offer little advantage(nature.com)

40 points by marsknight 4 years ago | 11 comments

sbinthree 4 years ago |

This was the most likely outcome. Original antigenic sin is fundamental.

deadbolt 4 years ago | |

My mom is very high risk. She's gotten the vaccine, and booster. She's currently considering booster #2, but isn't sure if it's a good idea. She had some issues with her heart after booster #1. Her doctors don't know what to tell her, there's just not enough data yet.

She has been taking every precaution possible, and currently has successfully evaded contracting COVID.

It makes me wonder if she would have been better waiting for a second formulation of the vaccine, given that she's been able to avoid COVID so far.

Would she have been better off waiting for the future vaccine? Isolate while the first generations of the virus burn through people, then get inoculated with a vaccine based on the later ones?

I suppose it's impossible to tell. Couldn't have guaranteed she wouldn't get infected up to this point, but it's something that weighs on me.

netsharc 4 years ago | | |

Some guy got 90 doses of the vaccine so he could sell the "vaccinated" status: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/03/german-man-sus... , I wonder if he'll be a case study of what overdosing does (although a sample of one is probably not useful).

stmfreak 4 years ago | |

Also the boosters were designed for the Beta variant. Not even targeting Omicron.

inkyoto 4 years ago | | |

There are two Moderna boosters that have been announced, the mRNA-1273.211 and mRNA-1273.214, ones. The .211 candidate is based on the Beta variant spike proteins the trial of which has already been completed, whereas the trial of the .214 candidate that is based on Omicron mutations is expected to complete by or in early June 2022.

From https://investors.modernatx.com/news/news-details/2022/Moder... :

  Moderna has multiple bivalent booster candidates that have been evaluated to date, which include mRNA-1273.211 (9 spike protein mutations, based on the Beta variant), and mRNA-1273.214 (32 spike protein mutations, based on the Omicron variant).  mRNA-1273.211 includes four mutations and mRNA-1273.214 includes 32 mutations present in the Omicron variant of concern.

  […]

  A booster dose of mRNA-1273.211 demonstrated superiority against the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 and the Beta, Delta and Omicron variants one month after the booster dose and superiority against the ancestral SARS-CoV-2, Beta and Omicron 6 months compared to the booster dose of mRNA-1273. There was a 2.20-fold (95% CI: 1.74, 2.79) and 2.15-fold (95% CI: 1.66, 2.78) increase in the neutralizing antibody titers against Omicron with the mRNA-1273.211 booster dose compared to the mRNA-1273 booster dose at 1 month and 6 months, respectively.

hughrlomas 4 years ago |

This title is misleading, the article has a different (updated?) title when you click through.

codeflow2202 4 years ago | |

You are right. The real quote would be: studies suggest that Omicron-specific boosters offer no advantage over a third dose of current vaccines.

marsknight 4 years ago | | |

You are right. I tried not to make it to clickbaity. Not an easy task. Should have left the original title

hedora 4 years ago |

The point of those boosters is to protect against future mutations of covid.

I'm not going to give this click bait a page view. What's the deal with Nature these days?

arrakis2021 4 years ago | |

They don’t do that.

mbg721 4 years ago | | |

Do they cater to every fantasy you've got? Do they hose you down with holy water if you get too hot? Do they take you places you've never known?

Moderna has multiple bivalent booster candidates that have been evaluated to date, which include mRNA-1273.211 (9 spike protein mutations, based on the Beta variant), and mRNA-1273.214 (32 spike protein mutations, based on the Omicron variant). mRNA-1273.211 includes four mutations and mRNA-1273.214 includes 32 mutations present in the Omicron variant of concern. […] A booster dose of mRNA-1273.211 demonstrated superiority against the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 and the Beta, Delta and Omicron variants one month after the booster dose and superiority against the ancestral SARS-CoV-2, Beta and Omicron 6 months compared to the booster dose of mRNA-1273. There was a 2.20-fold (95% CI: 1.74, 2.79) and 2.15-fold (95% CI: 1.66, 2.78) increase in the neutralizing antibody titers against Omicron with the mRNA-1273.211 booster dose compared to the mRNA-1273 booster dose at 1 month and 6 months, respectively.