Two jabs could be ineffective against Omicron without booster, says major new study

Three of the major coronavirus vaccines give 'significantly less' protection against the Omicron variant, according to a new study.

But researchers say that with a dose of a booster vaccine that third shot would likely 'restore most of the protection.'

The study, published on Tuesday, was carried out by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Harvard and MIT.

Scientists tested blood from people who had received the Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines against a pseudo virus engineered to resemble the Omicron variant.

The researchers found "low to absent" antibody neutralization of the variant from the regular regimens of all three vaccines.

Millions of people have been given their doses already (PA)

This came from two shots of the Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines or a single dose of J&J's vaccine.

But the blood from recent recipients of an additional booster dose exhibited 'potent neutralization' of the variant, the study found.

The scientists also suggested that Omicron is more infectious than previous variants of concern, including about twice as transmissible as the currently dominant Delta variant, which may soon be overtaken by Omicron.

The results are in line with other studies recently published.

Researchers at Oxford University said on Monday that they found the two-dose Pfizer and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine regimens do not induce enough neutralizing antibodies against the new variant.

BioNTech and Pfizer said last week that a three-shot course of their COVID-19 vaccine was able to neutralize the new Omicron variant in a laboratory test, but two doses resulted in significantly lower neutralizing antibodies.

Moderna and J&J have yet to release any of their own data about how the vaccines perform against the new variant.

It comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned the UK was facing "a tidal wave of Omicron" as he called on the public to get booster jabs as soon as possible.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid went on to say that the variant would become the dominant strain in London within 48 hours, while NHS England moved to level 4 preparedness level.

Latest government figures reveal that there have been more than 51.2 million single doses of a vaccine given as well as 47.8 million second doses.

More than 24 million people have so far had a third 'booster' dose.