Neutralizing potency of COVID‐19 vaccines against the SARS‐CoV‐2 Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant

The recent emergence of a new variant of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) called Omicron (B.1.1.529) has raised paramount concerns in scientific and medical communities due to the presence of several mutations in the spike protein, many of which are located within the receptor binding domain (RBD).1 Some of these mutations were found to have a substantial influence on host cells receptor and anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies binding,2 which may then impact infectivity and neutralizing antibodies escape, thus potentially magnifying the risk of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) vaccine breakthrough. We have hence carried out a scientific literature search, aimed at summarizing the currently published evidence on Omicron variant neutralizing properties of serum or plasma collected from recipients of COVID-19 vaccines.

[1]  Bin Zhou,et al.  Immunogenicity and Safety Following a Homologous Booster Dose of a SARS-CoV-2 recombinant spike protein vaccine (NVX-CoV2373): A Phase 2 Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial , 2021, medRxiv.

[2]  T. Nieminen,et al.  Neutralizing antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant after 3rd mRNA vaccination in health care workers and elderly subjects and response to a single dose in previously infected adults , 2021, medRxiv.

[3]  K. Swanson,et al.  Neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron pseudovirus by BNT162b2 vaccine-elicited human sera , 2021, medRxiv.

[4]  Qiang Liu,et al.  Omicron variant showed lower neutralizing sensitivity than other SARS-CoV-2 variants to immune sera elicited by vaccines after boost , 2021, Emerging microbes & infections.

[5]  J. Mascola,et al.  Booster of mRNA-1273 Strengthens SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Neutralization , 2021, medRxiv.

[6]  A. Telenti,et al.  Broadly neutralizing antibodies overcome SARS-CoV-2 Omicron antigenic shift , 2021, Nature.

[7]  Saniya M. Ansari,et al.  Characterization of the novel SARS‐CoV‐2 Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant of concern and its global perspective , 2021, Journal of medical virology.

[8]  Christina C. Chang,et al.  mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine boosters induce neutralizing immunity against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant , 2021, medRxiv.

[9]  P. Schommers,et al.  mRNA booster immunization elicits potent neutralizing serum activity against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant , 2021, Nature Medicine.

[10]  Y. Kreiss,et al.  Third BNT162b2 Vaccination Neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Infection , 2021, medRxiv.

[11]  O. Tsang,et al.  Neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant by sera from BNT162b2 or Coronavac vaccine recipients , 2021, medRxiv.

[12]  M. Nussenzweig,et al.  Plasma neutralization properties of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant , 2021, medRxiv.

[13]  G. Cheng,et al.  Sequence analysis of the emerging SARS‐CoV‐2 variant Omicron in South Africa , 2021, Journal of medical virology.

[14]  A. Sigal,et al.  SARS-CoV-2 Omicron has extensive but incomplete escape of Pfizer BNT162b2 elicited neutralization and requires ACE2 for infection , 2021, medRxiv.

[15]  G. Screaton,et al.  Reduced neutralisation of SARS-CoV-2 omicron B.1.1.529 variant by post-immunisation serum , 2021, The Lancet.