Staff Writer
The number of fully vaccinated people who have tested positive for Covid-19 from December 1 to December 8 stands at 282, while those who received single doses are 126.
According to the health ministry’s figures for December 8 2021, 53 others have been re-infected.
“As the pandemic is protracted, the number of persons who are re-infected is also growing.
“We, therefore, find it prudent to include this number in the Daily Update Report, as indicated in the table above under the column “reinfection”. “Reinfection is defined as a person who was previously infected with Covid-19, recovered, and becomes infected after 90 days from the date of the latest previous COVID-19 test,” the ministry said.
Health minister Dr kalumbi Shangula said some of the fully vaccinated people would be tested after being in contact with those who tested positive.
The initial report from the U.K. indicated that half of the people who tested positive for Covid-19 had been fully vaccinated.
Other reports from the U.S. also show that the first case of Omicron involved a fully vaccinated person.
A statement posted on their website on Wednesday by Pfizer/BioNTech says that preliminary laboratory studies demonstrate that three doses of their Covid-19 Vaccine neutralize the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529 lineage) while two doses show significantly reduced neutralization titers.
The Pfizer/BioNTech CEO Albert Bourla said, in the statement, that three doses of their vaccine will help fight Omicron.
“Although two doses of the vaccine may still offer protection against severe disease caused by the Omicron strain, it’s clear from these preliminary data that protection is improved with a third dose of our vaccine,” said Bourla.
He added: “Ensuring as many people as possible are fully vaccinated with the first two-dose series, and a booster remains the best course of action to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
BioNTech co-founder and managing director Ugur Sahin said: “Our preliminary, first dataset indicates that a third dose could still offer a sufficient level of protection from the disease of any severity caused by the Omicron variant.”
Sahin also said broad vaccination and booster campaigns worldwide could help us protect people better everywhere and get through the winter season.
“We continue to work on an adapted vaccine which, we believe, will help to induce a high level of protection against Omicron-induced COVID-19 disease as well as a prolonged protection compared to the current vaccine,” Sahin said.
The company also said the data indicate that a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech increases the neutralizing antibody titers by 25-fold compared to two doses against the Omicron variant.
However, the company said two doses may still protect against severe disease because other aspects of the immune system are less affected by the mutations found in Omicron.
In addition, the studies showed that a third dose of the vaccine provided a similar level of neutralizing antibodies against Omicron as two doses did against the original strain of the coronavirus and other variants.
Reports from South Africa say that with Omicron, there are signs that people previously infected with Covid-19 may be reinfection.
A South African researcher Julien Pulliam, a director for the South African Centre for Excellence in Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis at Stellenbosch University, said they had found increased reinfection risk associated with the Omicron variant.
“We find evidence of increased reinfection risk associated with emergence of the #Omicron variant, suggesting evasion of immunity from prior infection,” Pulliam tweeted on 2 December 2021.
Alex Sigal of the Durban-based Africa Health Research Institute tweeted that boosters are also likely to protect people.
“There is a very large drop in the neutralization of Omicron by BNT162b2 [Pfizer/BioNTech] immunity relative to the ancestral virus,” Sigal tweeted.
“Omicron escape from BNT162b2 neutralization is incomplete. Previous infection + vaccination still neutralize,” Sigal further tweeted.
