Asian Tech Press (Dec 8) -- The Omicron variant can partially evade protection from two doses of Comirnaty, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, according to a new study from South Africa posted Tuesday.

The study, conducted by the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI) in Durban, South Africa, was based on blood samples from 12 patients who had received two doses of Comirnaty but had not yet received a booster.

The study showed that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had a 41-fold decline in neutralizing antibody levels against the Omicron variant compared to the previous virants. Of samples, blood still neutralized the Omicron variant in 10 people who had previously been infected with COVID-19 and had been vaccinated.

Professor Alex Sigal, who led the study, said on Twitter, "Omicron escape from BNT162b2 neutralization is incomplete. Previous infection + vaccination still neutralizes."

However, the study has not been peer-reviewed and has been noted as having limitations, NBC News reported. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, noted that the drop in neutralizing antibodies in blood samples may not reflect how the variant behaves in the real world, and that the drop in antibody levels does not give a clear indication of whether Omicron can escape protection against serious diseases.

Alex Sigal said the data may be adjusted as more trials are conducted.

As of now, there is no significant data from drugmakers on vaccine performance against the Omicron variant, and BioNTech founder and CEO Ugur Sahin told NBC that the company expects to have data related to the new variant on Wednesday or Thursday.