Omicron Evades mRNA Booster Protection, South African Study Shows

Vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are seein in Cape Town, South Africa on Dec. 8, 2021. Rodger Bosch/AFP via Getty Images

The Omicron coronavirus variant is able to evade the protection gained from mRNA COVID-19 vaccines such as those made by Pfizer and Moderna, a South African study has found.

A study published on Jan. 18 in The Lancet examined some of the first documented breakthrough cases of the highly transmissible Omicron strain, which emerged in South Africa in late October 2021.