Vaccines currently available protect against the most serious cases derived from the omicron variant. This has been indicated by South African scientists who are investigating the transmissibility of this new variant of COVID-19 and its influence on immunity.
Although they consider that new mutations can “circumvent” immunity, vaccines continue to offer protection against serious illness. Thus, even if there are coronavirus infections or reinfections among those vaccinated, they will not develop serious symptoms.
“According to the mutation profile and the epidemiological picture, omicron is capable of bypassing the immunological protection and causing an infection. However, the protection against severe disease should not be affected,” says the latest report from the surveillance network. collected by Reuters agency.
This new variant has been detected in five provinces of South Africa, but experts warn that it is likely already circulating throughout the country. In this sense, Michelle Groome, scientist at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases of South Africa (NICD for its acronym in English), has warned that they are facing “an unprecedented increase” in infections.
They have also found that infections are occurring in younger patients. And, although it takes more weeks for research to provide more clarifying results, Everything indicates that this is going to become the dominant variant overcoming the delta.
According to the NICD, omicron already represents 74% of the 249 virus genomes sequenced in South Africa during the month of November.
South Africa was the first country to detect the new coronavirus variant, leading to many countries to cancel flights with this and other southern countries of the continent. A measure that some experts consider disproportionate because, in their opinion, there is no evidence that the variant did not circulate before in other countries.
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
