The recent emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant is raising concerns because of its increased transmissibility and by its numerous spike mutations with potential to evade neutralizing antibodies elicited by COVID-19 vaccines. Here, we evaluated the effects of a heterologous BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine booster on the humoral immunity of participants that had received a two-dose regimen of CoronaVac, an inactivated vaccine used globally. We found that heterologous CoronaVac prime followed by BNT162b2 booster regimen induces elevated virus-specific antibody levels and potent neutralization activity against the ancestral virus and Delta variant, resembling the titers obtained after two-doses of mRNA vaccines. While neutralization of Omicron was undetectable in participants that had received a two-dose regimen of CoronaVac vaccine, BNT162b2 booster resulted in a 1.4-fold increase in neutralization activity against Omicron, compared to two-dose mRNA vaccine. Despite this increase, neutralizing antibody titers were reduced by 7.1-fold and 3.6-fold for Omicron compared to ancestral and Delta variant, respectively. Our findings have immediate implications for multiples countries that previously used a CoronaVac regimen and reinforce the notion that the Omicron variant is associated with immune escape from vaccines or infection-induced immunity, highlighting the global need for vaccine boosters to combat the impact of emerging variants.
© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature America, Inc.

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