Any evidence that getting a covid booster works for omicron?

Question

I've been hearing colloquially that the booster helps for immunity to Omicron, but haven't actually found any evidence supporting this. Does anyone know of any studies that look at the efficacy of the vaccine for Omicron cases?

Answer 1

The Omicron variant of SARS-Cov-2 is still so new, that until the last few days there has been no statistical raw material on clinical experiences and patient-data to show what protective effect is given against it by the original covid-19 vaccines.

In default, therefore, of patient data, laboratory tests have been made on antibody serum samples from boosted vaccinees, and these have indicated the likelihood of much better protection against Omicron by boosted doses (i.e. a 3-dose schedule) of the original vaccines rather than the original two, which have shown themselves effective against the original form of this coronavirus and its kown previous variants before Omicron.

Naturally of great interest is actual clinical patient data, and within the last week, the original laboratory data have been supplemented by publication of a (preprint) report of a UK-based case-control study surveying actual patients.

The report itself can be found at (https://khub.net/documents/135939561/430986542/Effectiveness+of+COVID-19+vaccines+against+Omicron+variant+of+concern.pdf/f423c9f4-91cb-0274-c8c5-70e8fad50074),

and its results are described and excerpted in this answer:

(Why are scientists saying that the Omicron COVID-19 variant is a reason to get a booster?) .

(The link here is to a 'second/supplementary answer' at tab /105626#105626 .)

In brief, these are early patient data, the identifiable Omicron cases are predominantly of milder infection, and the patient statistics in the case-control study, so far as they go, confirm the laboratory test data in showing a markedly enhanced vaccine effect against Omicron when a booster dose of the Pfizer/Biontech vaccine is used.

The report's conclusions include that

"our findings support maximising coverage with third doses of vaccine in highly vaccinated populations".

For more, see the earlier answer.