Three doses of Pfizer vaccine likely to protect against Omicron infection, tests suggest

Initial findings indicate stark reduction in protection against new Covid variant from two vaccine doses

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Three doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine are likely to protect against infection with the Omicron variant but two doses may not, according to laboratory data that will increase pressure to speed up booster programmes.

Tests using antibodies in blood samples have given some of the first insights into how far Omicron escapes immunity, showing a stark drop-off in the predicted protection against infection or any type of disease for people who have had two doses. The findings suggest that, for Omicron, Pfizer/BioNTech should now be viewed as a three-dose vaccine".