Astra/Pfizer booster after Sinovac offers powerful defence against Omicron: virologist
People given two jabs of Sinovac followed by a booster of AstraZeneca or Pfizer had high protection against the Omicron variant, renowned virologist Dr Yong Poovorawan said on Saturday.
Reporting findings from recent studies, Dr Yong said people who had two shots of inactivated Sinovac followed by a booster of viral-vector AstraZeneca increased their immunity 100 times, or 200 after the mRNA Pfizer booster.
Both booster shots also triggered a big increase in “killer” T cells, which are thought to be especially effective in combating heavily mutated Covid-19 variants such as Omicron.
Yong cited studies on the medRxiv internet site, which pre-publishes scientific data and research ahead of the peer review process.
He pointed to data from researchers in Europe and China studying the effects of Sinovac jabs followed by mRNA boosters.
Yong heads the Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology at Chulalongkorn University, which expects to publish its own research results on combating Omicron in Thailand next week.
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Meanwhile the results of a study on Thailand’s programme of Sinovac and/or AstraZeneca doses followed by a booster will be published internationally soon, he added.
Yong also lamented opportunities lost because of scepticism over inactivated vaccines like Sinovac.
