Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm has successfully tested a protein-based coronavirus vaccine against the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The modified shot is administered as a booster after the two-dose COVID-19 vaccine that was originally manufactured by the Beijing-based firm.
Sinopharm’s researchers claimed in a recently published study that the protein-based vaccine produces a stronger immune response against the Omicron strain than the third dose of the original two-dose COVID-19 vaccine.
The study is based on the analysis of the blood tests of 192 healthy individuals who had been vaccinated with the original two doses of the Sinopharm vaccine six or more months prior to the tests. For the booster dose, half of the study’s participants received the new protein-based vaccine while the remaining were administered the original inactivated virus-based vaccine.
The analyses of their blood samples revealed that the subjects who received the protein-based vaccine produced higher levels of neutralizing antibodies against the Omicron variant than those who had gotten the inactivated virus-based vaccine.
The study was published on Tuesday and has not been peer-reviewed yet. It comes at a time when serious questions are being raised over the efficacy of Sinopharm’s BBIBP-CorV vaccine against the highly-mutated Omicron strain.
Sinopharm and Sinovac are the two vaccines that China has exported globally. Labeled ‘NVSI-06-07’, Sinopharm’s protein-based vaccine had also received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in late December 2021.
