Top WHO and US scientists say it is likely more transmissible than previous variants, but is also “highly unlikely” to completely evade vaccine protections
A boy gets vaccinated against COVID-19 at a site near Johannesburg, Wednesday. Pic/AP
The Omicron variant appears to be no worse than other coronavirus strains and is highly unlikely to completely evade vaccine protections and, said top WHO and US scientists on Tuesday amid growing public health concerns.
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The hopeful assessments came as global concern grew over the mutated variant, which has forced dozens of nations to re-impose border restrictions and raised the possibility of a return of economically punishing lockdowns. While it is likely more transmissible than previous variants, Omicron is also “highly unlikely” to completely evade vaccine protections, the World Health Organization’s second-in-command said on Tuesday.
“The preliminary data doesn’t indicate that this is more severe. In fact, if anything, the direction is towards less severity,” said WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan.
“We have highly effective vaccines that have proved effective against all the variants so far, in terms of severe disease and hospitalisation... There’s no reason to expect that it wouldn’t be so” for Omicron, he added.
However, Ryan acknowledged that it was possible that existing vaccines might prove less effective against Omicron, which counts more than 30 mutations on the spike protein that allows it to invade cells.
Dr Fauci agrees
Top US scientist Anthony Fauci echoed the WHO’s view, saying Omicron did not appear worse than prior strains based on early indications and was possibly milder. The new variant is “clearly highly transmissible”, very likely more so than Delta, Fauci said. “It almost certainly is not more severe than Delta,” he added. “There is some suggestion that it might even be less severe.” But he noted it was important to not over-interpret this data because the populations being followed skewed young and were less likely to become hospitalised. Severe disease can also take weeks to develop.
‘Pfizer booster protects against omicron’
Pfizer said Wednesday that a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine may protect against the new omicron variant even though the initial two doses appear significantly less effective. Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said lab tests showed a booster dose increased by 25-fold the level of so-called neutralizing antibodies against omicron. Pfizer said the preliminary laboratory data hasn’t yet undergone scientific review.
Weekly COVID cases dip in Europe: WHO
The World Health Organization’s European region has recorded a slight drop in both COVID-19 cases and deaths last week after facing a string of weekly increases.
3,94,970
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours
26,57,13,467
Total no. of cases worldwide
52,60,888
Total no. of deaths worldwide
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