Vaccinations and Causes:
An insurance company study released Tuesday found that the omicron variant reinjects people with COVID-19 more often, making Pfizer’s vaccine less effective. Still, it also causes less severe disease in adults.
During the first three weeks after the wave of omicron infections, Pfizer’s vaccine was 70% effective against severe disease caused by the virus.
In addition, those already infected by COVID-19 were at increased risk of reinfection compared with previous variants.
Despite low absolute incidence, the omicron variant was 20% more likely to hospitalize children than earlier periods in the pandemic. However, adults infected with the omicron variant were 29% less likely to be hospitalized.
A third or booster dose may restore protection against the new omicron variant, according to Pfizer and BioNTech.
Researchers said the data should be considered preliminary, given that it was drawn from the early weeks of the new wave of omicron cases and may change over time. Discovery Health’s study revealed the discovery of 78,000 COVID-19 cases associated with the omicron variant.
Despite this, the study gives us the most conclusive evidence so far of how Omicron competes with the delta variant.
According to a recent study, over 90% of newly diagnosed COVID-19 cases in South Africa originate from Omicron.
As with other variants, experts predicted Omicron would become the dominant variant in Europe within a few days or weeks. This could give a clue as to what the US will follow.
Dr Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the delta variant accounted for more than 99% of cases of COVID-19 as of last week. Walensky detailed the threat of disease spread in the US during a press briefing on Dec.
10, in which COVID-19 cases (up 37% from the previous week), hospitalizations (up 16%), and deaths (28% increase) were all on the rise.
Any new variants of the COVID-19 coronavirus that are even more contagious than the original could prove to hinder recovery from a pandemic.
As soon as the delta variant became the dominant strain in the US in July 2021, a spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations and cases followed.
Scientists suggest this strain is at least twice as contagious as earlier strains. Unvaccinated people have been the most likely to die and be hospitalized by COVID-19. According to CDC data, unvaccinated people were 14 times more likely to die than those vaccinated.
Omicron, if left unchecked, could overwhelm hospitals and health care systems due to its increased contagiousness, which means some individuals could get severely ill and require hospitalization.
Officials in the United States are instructing everyone as young as 16 to get a booster dose of Omicron to stay on top of the disease.
Can Omicron become as bad as delta (or vice versa)?
According to a large study released Wednesday by the University of Cape Town, Omicron is more contagious than delta, leading to more people being infected. Adults who take Omicron suffer from less severe symptoms as well.
Omicron is “highly transmissible,” but more research is required to determine the exact severity of infection caused by this variant compared to other variants, as well as whether it causes less or more severe illness.
Despite encouraging data on COVID-19 hospitalizations in South Africa, it is inconclusive since young people are most commonly affected by Omicron. COVID-19 is less common among younger adults and children than among older adults.
According to the Department of Health in South Africa, Omega has similar mutations in its spike protein to the delta variant, the alpha, gamma, and beta variants, all classified as variants of concern by the World Health Organization.
In addition to being highly transmittable, Omicron is likely to reach immune systems more efficiently, decreasing the vaccine’s ability to prevent symptomatic disease (just as in the case of the delta variant, scientists expect vaccines to continue protecting against severe COVID-19). According to South African scientists, Omicron can cause reinfections in people who have had COVID-19.
Even though the Omicron variant has more mutations on its spike protein than the Delta variant, it is still unclear what these mutations mean.
Many studies are being conducted worldwide to understand Omicron better, and results of these studies will be shared as soon as they are available.
Transmissibility:
Compared to other variants, including Delta, it is unknown whether Omicron is more transmissible (e.g., more easily transmitted from one person to another).
Studies are underway to determine if the rise in positive results is due to Omicron or other factors in affected areas of South Africa.
Severity:
The extent of disease caused by infections with Omicron compared with other strains, such as Delta, is unknown.
A preliminary analysis shows that hospitalization rates in South Africa are on the rise, but this might not be due to a specific outbreak of Omicron infection, more likely to an increase in infections generally.
According to information currently available, Omicron’s symptoms are not different from those of any other variant.
The first confirmed cases of infection were found among university students-younger individuals who tend to have more mild illnesses.
However, it will take days to several weeks to determine the severity of the Omicron variant. It is important to remember that all COVID-19 strains, including the Delta strain, which is dominant worldwide, can cause severe illness or death for very vulnerable people, so prevention is of the utmost importance.
SARS-CoV-2 prior infections’ effectiveness:
There is preliminary evidence that people who have previously had COVID-19 may be more at risk of reinfection with Omicron (i.e., they could get infected with this strain more quickly than with other variants of concern), but more research is required.
Effectiveness of vaccine and current test:
Technical partners are helping the WHO analyze the potential impact of this variant on existing countermeasures, including vaccines.
Delta is a dominant circulating variant of the virus, so vaccines reduce severe disease and death. Currently, the virus is not fatal.
The widely used PCR tests were able to detect Omicron. There is no definitive information about whether the phenomenon affects other tests, such as rapid antigen detection tests.
Preventions:
To reduce COVID-19 circulation overall, countries should continue implementing science-based and effective public health measures.
A rise in cases should be addressed by expanding some public health and medicine capacity. WHO provides support and guidance to countries to prepare for disasters.
The urgent need to address inequities in access to COVID-19 vaccines for vulnerable groups, such as health workers and the elderly, and equitable access to treatment and diagnostics, is also crucial to public health.
People can prevent COVID-19 virus infections by keeping a distance of 1 meter from each other; wearing a well-fitting mask; opening windows to improve airflow; avoiding poorly ventilated or crowded spaces; keeping their hands clean; coughing or sneezing into an elbow, or using tissues when they need to, and getting vaccinated when they need to.
References:
- https://www.statnews.com/2021/12/10/the-omicron-variant-can-likely-outcompete-delta-and-that-could-worsen-the-u-s-covid-19-epidemic/
- https://www.houstonmethodist.org/blog/articles/2021/nov/covid-19-omicron-variant-its-early-but-heres-everything-we-know-right-now/
- https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/covid-omicron-variant-what-you-need-to-know
