A study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has shown that people infected with the Omicron variant have a robust immune response which could neutralize Omicron, as well as other variants of concern, including the Delta variant.

According to the study, the immune response induced by the Omicron variant could effectively neutralize the Delta variant, and make re-infection with Delta less likely, thus replacing Delta as dominant strain. The study thus emphasized the need for Omicron-specific vaccine strategy. The study included 39 individuals. Of these, 25 had received both the doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, while 8 had received two doses of Pfizer vaccine. Six individuals were unvaccinated. Twenty eight of these 39 individuals were foreign returnees and 11 people were their high-risk contacts. All had been infected with the Omicron variant. The study was released on the preprint server bioRxiv on January 26 and has yet to be peer-reviewed… (ET Healthworld – PTI, January 26, 2022)