The WHO has said that Omicron – the latest version flagged by it – Concern (VOCs) may be able to spread more easily, but it has not been linked to any COVID-related deaths anywhere in the world so far. The global health agency has said that while it studies the effect of the variant, vaccines are the best bet against its spread. India has given the first shot of the COVID vaccine to more than four-fifths of its eligible population, of whom more than a third have completed the bath dose. Health officials are now emphasizing on covering the unconnected at a faster rate. The Union Territory of Puducherry has made COVID vaccination mandatory for all residents, while Himachal Pradesh is on the verge of achieving 100% coverage of its eligible population. As the world works on its response to Omicron, here’s what we know about it and how the fight against it is shaping up.
Is the Omicron variant lighter than the Delta?
A South African doctor who was one of the first to suspect new version of novel coronavirus May appear on the scene, has said that all matters involving Omicron that he handled were “very mild”.
While the symptoms were different from those associated with the earlier variants, Dr Angelique Coetzee said that none of the initial patients she had had required hospitalization and that she was “treating these patients at home.” could”. She said the most common symptoms for the Omicron version were extreme fatigue and body aches and headaches. “Most of them are seeing very mild symptoms,” he said.
But the general opinion among experts is that it is still early days to conclude that the type causes a milder illness. The first cases in South Africa were reported among university students and young people are seen to have better immunity than high-risk groups.
NS World Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist of the Health Organization (WHO), has said that the global health body cannot say at this stage that Omicron was a mild variant, despite reports of minor infections. Experts point out that small factors can make a big difference in how a pathogen affects a population and more comprehensive real-world information is needed to reach a conclusion about how much of an oomicron can cause concern.
Swaminathan, it is also reported that the world “is in a different situation than it was a year ago. So far more people have either contracted an infection and been cured or vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, meaning that they have developed some sort of immunity against the virus.
Swaminathan said the WHO could not immediately rule out that while Omicron was a milder version, any knee-jerk reaction should be avoided. “We need to be prepared and alert, not panic,” she said said A Reuters conference.
But isn’t Omicron able to evade the antibodies?
More than 30 mutations found to pack oomicrons into their spike proteins – the surface area of the novel coronavirus Which allows it to invade and latch on to human cells – pointing to an ability to evade antibodies, but scientists say the variant may not be able to completely blunt every protection gained from previous infection or vaccination. It is possible.
Most vaccines are primarily designed to train the human immune system to recognize and attack this spike protein. Therefore, any significant changes that it might do through new mutations would make it difficult for vaccines to attack the spike protein.
Swaminathan said that while Omicron “appears to be able to overcome some of the natural immunity from previous infections”, the evidence so far suggests that vaccines do have an effect.
“The fact that they are not getting sick … means that the vaccines are still providing protection and we hope they will continue to provide protection,” Swaminathan said.
In fact, South African Health Minister Joe Fahla said that after the initial cases, most of the hospitalizations linked to Omicron were among people who had not been vaccinated. Experts say this gives reason to be optimistic that vaccines are still effective.
Will We Need a Vaccine Booster to Protect Against Omicrons?
The WHO is battling against booster shots for COVID-19 at a time when most people in poor countries have not yet received their first dose of the vaccine. But amid the emergence of Omicron, advanced countries have moved quickly to accelerate the delivery of additional doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
While he didn’t rule out the continued effectiveness of existing jabs, Swaminathan also pointed to the possibility that additional doses would improve the immune response to Omicron. “It is possible that vaccines will work. It is possible that you may need an additional dose initially to boost the immune response.” The WHO Technical Advisory Group is assessing whether the vaccines will need to be upgraded to successfully counter the new variant.
A scenario where the novel coronavirus continues to mutate and is yet unable to completely outweigh the effects of vaccines would suggest that it has entered the endemic phase. In such a situation, cases would continue to emerge, but infections and hospitalizations from the virus would be unlikely, as seen in the earlier waves.
Ugur Sahin, CEO of BioNTech, the company that has collaborated with Pfizer to roll out an mRNA shot against the novel coronavirus, told the Reuters conference that it would take a relatively short time and wait for them to adapt their vaccine against Omicron. Had to see How urgently was the upgrade needed.
“I believe in principle at a certain time point that we will need a new vaccine against this new variant,” Sahin said. On the need for annual vaccine boosters, Swaminathan said, “WHO is preparing for all scenarios”.
But while they were of the opinion that “natural infection acts as a booster”, South African scientists have reportedly found that Omicron can pack a “substantial potential” to re-infect people whose The pass is already Kovid compared to the previous variants.
How fast is Omicron spreading?
The report, which came out at the end of the first weekend of December, said that Omicron has spread to about 40 countries, including the US. India has also reported at least five cases of the variant after health officials in Botswana and South Africa first flagged it to the world in the last week of November.
On 3 December, WHO said the variant had been detected 38 countries, up from 23 two days ago, and preliminary assessments suggest that Omicron is more contagious than Delta, which is currently the dominant variant and behind 99 percent of all cases globally.
“We see increasing growth rates, we are detecting increasing numbers of omicrons,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s COVID-19 technical lead, adding that “there is a suggestion that there is increased transmittance”. But he underscored the need to find out whether “it is more or less transmitted than delta”.
If Omicron is able to outnumber the delta variant and become the dominant strain worldwide, as some have speculated, this could lead to the need to upgrade vaccines and treatments against the novel coronavirus. But for now, the WHO has advised against any drastic measures, including imposing any travel restrictions, as implemented by some countries.
As Van Kerkhove pointed out, while South Africa may have been the first country to report Omicron, it is not necessarily the first to emerge. Experts have said that the detection of omicrons is due in large part to South Africa’s genomic sequencing infrastructure, something most other countries do not have. “Some of the early cases of this particular type may not very well be in South Africa,” Van Kerkhove said, adding that the sequencing picture of the backlog of Covid cases from November could change.
What should be the response to this?
Expressing regret that South Africa has been penalized for reporting the emergence of omicrons, thanks to “excellent genomic sequencing and surveillance” in the country, WHO chief scientist Swaminathan said he agreed. That version may not even have arisen had countries in Africa gained access to more vaccines.
“There is a clear link between inequality in access to vaccines and the development of variants,” Swaminathan said.
Van Kerkhove and Mike Ryan, executive directors of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, have stressed that current vaccines are the most effective way to slow transmission of the virus. Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist, was quoted as telling NBC that although breakthrough infections or re-infections “may be more common with … who become infected with Omicron.
The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium, or INSACOG, tasked with tracking the evolution of the novel coronavirus in the country, also noted in a bulletin that “low levels of neutralizing antibodies from existing vaccines are likely Not there. enough to neutralize omicrons, although the risk of serious disease is still likely to be low.”
INSACOG said that with “vaccination of all remaining uninfected at-risk people”, the government may consider booster doses for those over the age of 40 and “targeting the highest risk/high risk”.
Puducherry announced after the INSACOG bulletin that vaccination was mandatory For all eligible people of the Union Territory. Amid the rise of Omicron amid calls by the Center to rapidly expand immunization coverage for states and union territories to include non-vaccinated people, reports say Himachal Pradesh is set to achieve 100 per cent vaccination coverage. is on the verge of.
It has been reported that the same measures that worked to keep infections at bay during early outbreaks – wearing masks, washing hands frequently, avoiding crowded places – failed to thwart Omicron. Will continue to be effective.
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