The state-made COVID vaccines rolled out by Russia and China appear to produce “little or no antibodies” that can fend off the heavily mutated Omicron variant, according to the results of a new study. Bloomberg News reported on the study Friday after it was released by researchers at the University of Washington and Swiss drugmaker Humabs Biomed SA. The results, which have not yet been peer-reviewed, reportedly show a weaker antibody response to Omicron from China’s Sinopharm shot, Russia’s Sputnik vaccine, as well one made by Johnson & Johnson. For Sinopharm, only three out of 13 people who has taken both doses of the shot showed neutralizing antibodies against the Omicron variant. Zero of the 11 people vaccinated with Sputnik generated such antibodies in the study, and only one out of 12 people with the J&J shot had the antibodies. Vaccines from Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Pfizer/BioNTech retained antibody activity against Omicron in the study, but with some decreases.
