COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness against the omicron (BA.2) variant in England
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In the United Kingdom study, waning was substantially greater for BA.2 and BA.4/5 than BA.1 through 5 months after the first booster dose.
“Moreover, waning was substantially greater for BA.2 and BA.4/5 than BA.1 through 5 months.”
From Assessing COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness against Omicron subvariants: Report from a meeting of the World Health Organization (2023) · cites this paper as [22]
The paper's discussion states that, for symptomatic disease, there was no difference in the rate of waning between BA.2 and BA.1—the opposite of the claimed substantially greater waning for BA.2. It says effectiveness against hospitalisation might wane faster for BA.2, but qualifies that observation with possible bias. The study examines BA.1 and BA.2, not BA.4/5. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Checked by a reasoning model — may be wrong.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn the United Kingdom study, vaccine effectiveness was significantly higher for BA.1 than both BA.2 and BA.4/5 at 2 weeks-to-2 months and 3-5 months after the first booster dose.
“VE was significantly higher for BA.1 than both BA.2 and BA.4/5 at 2 weeks-to2 months and 3-5 months after the first booster dose.”
From Assessing COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness against Omicron subvariants: Report from a meeting of the World Health Organization (2023) · cites this paper as [22]
In the main text (page not provided), the paper reports no evidence of lower effectiveness against symptomatic BA.2 than BA.1 and says effectiveness against hospitalisation was similar after a booster; it does not establish the claimed significant BA.1 advantage. Its analysis covers BA.1 and BA.2, not BA.4/5, so it cannot support that comparison either. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Checked by a reasoning model — may be wrong.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn the United Kingdom study, no difference was observed in vaccine effectiveness between BA.2 and BA.4/5 through 8 months after the first booster dose.
“No difference was observed in VE between BA.2 and BA.4/5 through 8 months after the first booster dose.”
From Assessing COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness against Omicron subvariants: Report from a meeting of the World Health Organization (2023) · cites this paper as [22]
The main text reports no evidence of reduced vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic disease for BA.2 compared with BA.1 after booster vaccination. It does not compare BA.2 with BA.4/5 or establish that effectiveness was the same through eight months after the booster. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
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Cites
Effectiveness of Covid-19 Vaccines against the B.1.617.2 (Delta) Variant
Lopez Bernal, J., Andrews, N., Gower, C., Gallagher, E., Simmons, R., Thelwall, S., Stowe, J., Tessier, E., Groves, N., Dabrera, G., et al. (2021) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmoa2108891 · Cited by 2,889 · see citing works
Self-citationEffectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against the Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant of concern
Andrews, N., Stowe, J., Kirsebom, F., Toffa, S., Rickeard, T., Gallagher, E., Gower, C., Kall, M., Groves, N., O’Connell, A.-M., et al. (2021) · doi:10.1101/2021.12.14.21267615 · Cited by 2,420 · see citing works
Self-citationWaning of BNT162b2 Vaccine Protection against SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Qatar
Chemaitelly, H., Tang, P., Hasan, M. R., AlMukdad, S., Yassine, H. M., Benslimane, F. M., Al Khatib, H. A., Coyle, P., Ayoub, H. H., Al Kanaani, Z., et al. (2021) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmoa2114114 · Cited by 831 · see citing works
Duration of Protection against Mild and Severe Disease by Covid-19 Vaccines
Andrews, N., Tessier, E., Stowe, J., Gower, C., Kirsebom, F., Simmons, R., Gallagher, E., Thelwall, S., Groves, N., Dabrera, G., et al. (2022) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmoa2115481 · Cited by 807 · see citing works
Self-citationAndrews, N., Stowe, J., Kirsebom, F., Toffa, S., Sachdeva, R., Gower, C., Ramsay, M., & Lopez Bernal, J. (2022) · Nature Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41591-022-01699-1 · Cited by 453 · see citing works
Self-citationTransmission of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron VOC subvariants BA.1 and BA.2: Evidence from Danish HouseholdsPreprint
Lyngse, F. P., Kirkeby, C., Denwood, M. J., et al. (2022) · medRxiv · doi:10.1101/2022.01.28.22270044 · Cited by 209 · see citing works
Stowe, J., Andrews, N., Kirsebom, F., Ramsay, M., & Bernal, J. L. (2022) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-022-33378-7 · Cited by 166 · see citing works
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Evaluation of Waning of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine–Induced Immunity: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Menegale, F., Manica, M., Zardini, A., Guzzetta, G., Marziano, V., d'Andrea, V., Trentini, F., Ajelli, M., Poletti, P., & Merler, S. (2023) · JAMA Network Open · doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.10650 · Cited by 280 · see citing works
Stowe, J., Andrews, N., Kirsebom, F., Ramsay, M., & Bernal, J. L. (2022) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-022-33378-7 · Cited by 166 · see citing works
Self-citationLink-Gelles, R., Levy, M. E., Gaglani, M., Irving, S. A., Stockwell, M., Dascomb, K., DeSilva, M. B., Reese, S. E., Liao, I.-C., Ong, T. C., et al. (2022) · MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report · doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7129e1 · Cited by 126 · see citing works
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The Vaccine Efficacy Against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis
Zou, Y., Huang, D., Jiang, Q., Guo, Y., & Chen, C. (2022) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.940956 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
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“Results presented from the United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) are unpublished data of an updated analysis using methods that have been described previously [22,23].”
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Song, S., Madewell, Z. J., Liu, M., Longini, I. M., & Yang, Y. (2023) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1195908 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Rahman, M. O., Kamigaki, T., Thandar, M. M., Haruyama, R., Yan, F., Shibamura-Fujiogi, M., Khin Maung Soe, J., Islam, M. R., Yoneoka, D., Miyahara, R., et al. (2023) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2023-076892 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
- Authors
- Kirsebom, F. C. M., Andrews, N., Stowe, J., Toffa, S., Sachdeva, R., Gallagher, E., Groves, N., O'Connell, A.-M., Chand, M., Ramsay, M., & Bernal, J. L.
- Affiliations
- UK Health Security Agency (GB)
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (GB)
- National Health Service (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Bernal, Jamie Lopez
- ORCID
- Venue
- The Lancet Infectious Diseases
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2022-07
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 931-933
- ISSN
- 1473-3099 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9129256
- OpenAlex
- W4281489105
- Cited by
- 182
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 66 · 2022: 65 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 21.39
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- The Lancet Infectious Diseases (publishedVersion)
- medRxiv (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Modeling and Simulation › COVID-19 epidemiological studies
- Social Sciences › Health › Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy
- Keywords
- COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness, Omicron variant, booster vaccination, neutralizing antibodies, antigenic variation, SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infection, England
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, COVID-19 Vaccines, Vaccine Efficacy, England, Humans
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