Omicron infection enhances Delta antibody immunity in vaccinated persons

Khadija Khan, Farina Karim, Sandile Cele, Kajal Reedoy, James Emmanuel San, Gila Lustig, Houriiyah Tegally, Yuval Rosenberg, Mallory Bernstein, Zesuliwe Jule, Yashica Ganga, Nokuthula Ngcobo, Matilda Mazibuko, Ntombifuthi Mthabela, Zoey Mhlane, Nikiwe Mbatha, Yoliswa Miya, Jennifer Giandhari, Yajna Ramphal, Taryn Naidoo, Aida Sivro, Natasha Samsunder, Ayesha B. M. Kharsany, Daniel Amoako, Jinal N. Bhiman, Nithendra Manickchund, Quarraisha Abdool Karim, Nombulelo Magula, Salim S. Abdool Karim, Glenda Gray, Willem Hanekom, Anne Gottberg, Ron Milo, Bernadett I. Gosnell, Richard J. Lessells, Penny L. Moore, Tulio Oliveira, Mahomed-Yunus S. Moosa and Alex Sigal ()
Additional contact information
Khadija Khan: Africa Health Research Institute
Farina Karim: Africa Health Research Institute
Sandile Cele: Africa Health Research Institute
Kajal Reedoy: Africa Health Research Institute
James Emmanuel San: KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform
Gila Lustig: Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa
Houriiyah Tegally: KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform
Yuval Rosenberg: Weizmann Institute of Science
Mallory Bernstein: Africa Health Research Institute
Zesuliwe Jule: Africa Health Research Institute
Yashica Ganga: Africa Health Research Institute
Nokuthula Ngcobo: Africa Health Research Institute
Matilda Mazibuko: Africa Health Research Institute
Ntombifuthi Mthabela: Africa Health Research Institute
Zoey Mhlane: Africa Health Research Institute
Nikiwe Mbatha: Africa Health Research Institute
Yoliswa Miya: Africa Health Research Institute
Jennifer Giandhari: KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform
Yajna Ramphal: KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform
Taryn Naidoo: Africa Health Research Institute
Aida Sivro: Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa
Natasha Samsunder: Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa
Ayesha B. M. Kharsany: Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa
Daniel Amoako: National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service
Jinal N. Bhiman: National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service
Nithendra Manickchund: University of KwaZulu-Natal
Quarraisha Abdool Karim: Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa
Nombulelo Magula: University of Kwa-Zulu Natal
Salim S. Abdool Karim: Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa
Glenda Gray: South African Medical Research Council
Willem Hanekom: Africa Health Research Institute
Anne Gottberg: National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service
Ron Milo: Weizmann Institute of Science
Bernadett I. Gosnell: University of KwaZulu-Natal
Richard J. Lessells: KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform
Penny L. Moore: Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa
Tulio Oliveira: KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform
Mahomed-Yunus S. Moosa: University of KwaZulu-Natal
Alex Sigal: Africa Health Research Institute

Nature, 2022, vol. 607, issue 7918, 356-359

Abstract: Abstract The extent to which Omicron infection1–9, with or without previous vaccination, elicits protection against the previously dominant Delta (B.1.617.2) variant is unclear. Here we measured the neutralization capacity against variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in 39 individuals in South Africa infected with the Omicron sublineage BA.1 starting at a median of 6 (interquartile range 3–9) days post symptom onset and continuing until last follow-up sample available, a median of 23 (interquartile range 19–27) days post symptoms to allow BA.1-elicited neutralizing immunity time to develop. Fifteen participants were vaccinated with Pfizer's BNT162b2 or Johnson & Johnson's Ad26.CoV2.S and had BA.1 breakthrough infections, and 24 were unvaccinated. BA.1 neutralization increased from a geometric mean 50% focus reduction neutralization test titre of 42 at enrolment to 575 at the last follow-up time point (13.6-fold) in vaccinated participants and from 46 to 272 (6.0-fold) in unvaccinated participants. Delta virus neutralization also increased, from 192 to 1,091 (5.7-fold) in vaccinated participants and from 28 to 91 (3.0-fold) in unvaccinated participants. At the last time point, unvaccinated individuals infected with BA.1 had low absolute levels of neutralization for the non-BA.1 viruses and 2.2-fold lower BA.1 neutralization, 12.0-fold lower Delta neutralization, 9.6-fold lower Beta variant neutralization, 17.9-fold lower ancestral virus neutralization and 4.8-fold lower Omicron sublineage BA.2 neutralization relative to vaccinated individuals infected with BA.1. These results indicate that hybrid immunity formed by vaccination and Omicron BA.1 infection should be protective against Delta and other variants. By contrast, infection with Omicron BA.1 alone offers limited cross-protection despite moderate enhancement.

Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04830-x Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:607:y:2022:i:7918:d:10.1038_s41586-022-04830-x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04830-x

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().