The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 19th (local time) that other vaccines except Pfizer and Moderna do not help prevent infection of Omicron, a new mutation in COVID-19. AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson, China’s Sinovac and Sinopharm, and Russia’s Sputnik can hardly prevent Omikron infection.
According to a preliminary study conducted in the UK, the AstraZeneca vaccine does not have the ability to prevent omicron infection six months after vaccination. 90% of those vaccinated in India received AstraZeneca, and the vaccine was widely used throughout Africa.
China’s Sinopharm and Sinovac cannot defend against Omikron at all. Most Chinese, including people in Mexico and Brazil, were vaccinated with Sinovac. Researchers predict that even Russia’s Sputnik vaccine used in Africa and Latin America will not be able to defend Omikron.
Studies so far show that pfizer and Moderna vaccines are applied with new mRNA technology to consistently provide optimal protection against infection in all mutations.
“The new threat to southern hemisphere countries that have relied on non-mRNA vaccines, other than Pfizer and Moderna, is the result of rich countries’ failure to share vaccine technology or help build production bases in mid- to low-income countries,” said Tolbert Ngens, a senior researcher at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
