SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Breakthrough by Omicron and Delta Variants, New York, USA

Abstract

the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic had claimed >6.4 million human lives globally, >1 million in the United States, and >70,000 in New York state (1). Virus evolution and adaptation have been observed in persistently infected immunocompromised persons (2) and animal reservoirs (3,4), leading to the potential for new, highly adapted variants.Novel variants of SARS-CoV-2 have shown increased rates of transmission and immune evasion (5,6). In particular, Omicron has evolved a suite of unique mutations, which have greatly increased its infectiousness (7), increased its ability to evade current vaccines (5,6), and decreased the effectiveness of convalescent plasma transfusions and monoclonal antibody treatments (8,9). To a lesser degree, the Delta variant showed some of these same patterns of increased infectiousness (10) and potential for immune evasion compared with earlier strains that preceded Delta (11).Prior literature has also shown differences in vaccine effectiveness for SARS-CoV-2 lineages associated with variation in vaccine type, time since vaccination, and patient age. Before emergence of the Delta and Omicron variants, data showed reduced neutralizing antibody protection for the Janssen vaccine (Johnson & Johnson, https://www.jnj.com) compared with the Pfizer (Pfizer-BioNTech, https://www.pfizer.com) and Moderna (https://www.modernatx.com) vaccines (12) and slightly stronger protection for Moderna compared with Pfizer vaccines ( 12). An effect of time since vaccination has been demonstrated for the Delta variant (11). Younger persons were found to be more likely to be infected with Omicron (13,14).To test the associations between vaccination status, vaccine type, and time since vaccination with lineage identity during the emergence of new variants of SARS-CoV-2, we conducted a matched case-control study. We performed analyses for the emergence of the Omicron and Delta variants in New York, USA. The study was waived by the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) Institutional Review Board for Human Subjects Research review. Methods Data Analysis Omicron Emergence AnalysisWe analyzed emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant from November 28, 2021, through January 24, 2022 (Figure 1). We matched persons infected with Omicron (case-patients) to persons infected with any other virus lineage (controls). Case-patients (n = 1,439) included infection with B.1.1.529 and all BA

Genotyping and phylogeography of infectious bronchitis virus isolates from Pakistan show unique linkage to GI-24 lineage

“…Even though actual data on these events are scarce, an increase of the IBV population was observed around 2014 again. The use of this GI-13 vaccine (4/91), might have resulted in the selection for novel and/or other circulating lineages (e.g., GI-24) to cause vaccination breakthrough infections as previously reported for SARS-CoV-2 ( Keyel et al, 2022 ). This again suggests that the GI-24 is the prevalent circuiting field genotype, and currently no vaccination is targeted against this lineage which may result in increase of IBV population in coming years.…”

Evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 anti-Spike antibody levels and breakthrough infection risk among vaccinated adults in North Lebanon

“…Moreover, previous studies have shown a significant increase in breakthrough infection with the apparition of a new variant of concern compared with prior strains circulating [ 40 ]. Indeed, the study of Kustin et al .…”

“…A recent case-control analysis on breakthrough infections in the periods of the emergence of Delta and Omicron variants in New York has shown that the Omicron variant was associated with a higher level of breakthrough in fully vaccinated and boosted participants. The vaccines that were taken in this study were Moderna, BNT162b2, and Janssen [ 40 ]. On the other hand, Regenhardt et al .…”

Community Level Correlates of COVID-19 Booster Vaccine Hesitancy in the United States: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

“…However, despite the initial success of the primary vaccines, there has been a resurgence in susceptibility to COVID-19 infection in recent years due to viral evolution. This evolution has led to waning immunity against emergent highly divergent strains with the potential of immunity escape of certain highly mutated strains, including Delta in 2020, Omicron in 2021, and Pirola (BA.2.86) and Eris (EG.5) in 2023 [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ].…”