*in the future*
A: Hey B, I can’t wait for your party this Sunday. I’ll be bringing lots of drinks and-
B: Oh right, about that. I think I’ll watch the 36th season of Squid Game instead. So no party.
A: Oh come on man, don’t be an Omicron.
The Omicron variant, though it only appeared a few weeks ago, has already become the world’s most famous party pooper.
Just as numerous countries were easing restrictions and opening their borders to visitors, the Omicron swooped in like a miserable eagle and pooped on all of us.
Since its emergence, experts have speculated that the virus is more transmissible and could affect our vaccines’ efficacy.
And the data seems to support that theory.
WHO Gives Updates About Omicron, Says It Spreads Faster & Weakens COVID-19 Vaccine Jabs
Early data suggests that the Omicron COVID-19 strain is indeed more transmissible and reduces vaccine efficacy, the World Health Organisaton (WHO) said in an update.
“Given the current available data, it is likely that Omicron will outpace the Delta variant where community transmission occurs.”
Believe it or not, this has already happened in South Africa.
In October, 92% of infections in South Africa were caused by the Delta strain. But just the next month, it was the Omicron variant that became the dominant one, accounting for 74% of cases in the country.
The Delta variant, which emerged early this year, is still the dominant variant, accounting for most COVID-19 infections across the globe.
As of 9 Dec, the Omicron variant has spread to 63 countries.
But it’s not all bad news.
Causes Less Severe Symptoms
Early data also suggests that the new variant causes less severe symptoms than previous iterations like the Delta.
WHO noted that Omicron has caused “mild” or asymptomatic cases, but added that the data is insufficient to make a concrete claim over its severity.
The same goes for its transmissibility – WHO said that while it seems to be more infectious, it’s unclear if it’s because it was less prone to immune responses, higher transmissibility, or a combination of both.
Last week, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that a three-shot course of their COVID-19 vaccine can neutralise the Omicron variant.
Preliminary studies on the variant show that the Omicron variant can evade the defences of two-dose vaccine courses.
Both Moderna, as well as Pfizer-BioNTech, have also said they could develop an Omicron-based vaccine as early as next year.
You can watch this video to the end to know more about Omicron:
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