The World Well being Group stated Wednesday that there’s a lot to be taught concerning the omicron variant of the coronavirus, however the world will not be defenseless in opposition to it and nations must act now to maintain it from spreading.
At a briefing on the company’s headquarters in Geneva, WHO Director-Basic Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated the omicron variant has been reported in 57 nations, and that quantity is predicted to develop.
He stated sure options of omicron, together with its world unfold and enormous variety of mutations, recommend it might have a significant affect on the course of the pandemic. It will likely be essential to observe rigorously what occurs world wide to be able to perceive if omicron can turn out to be the dominant variant.
Tedros stated despite the fact that solutions are nonetheless wanted to essential questions, persons are not defenseless in opposition to the omicron or delta variants, however nations should act now.
“We’re operating out of the way to say this, however we’ll preserve saying it: all of us — each authorities and each particular person — should use all of the instruments now we have, proper now,” he stated. He known as on all nations to speed up vaccine protection in probably the most at-risk populations, intensify efforts to drive down transmission, and work to maintain it down with a tailor-made mixture of public well being measures.
On the similar briefing, WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan cautioned in opposition to studying an excessive amount of right into a South African research suggesting the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was much less efficient in combating off COVID-19 as a result of it indicated a major lower within the ranges of neutralizing antibodies in opposition to omicron.
Swaminathan instructed reporters that it’s untimely to conclude the discount in neutralizing antibodies makes the vaccine much less efficient.
“We have no idea that, as a result of, as you recognize, the immune system is far more complicated,” she stated. “There are the T-cells, there are the reminiscence B-cells and so what we actually want now’s a coordinated analysis effort and never leaping to conclusions … research by research.”
Earlier Wednesday, Pfizer introduced the outcomes of its personal preliminary laboratory research displaying a 3rd booster shot of its vaccine restored effectiveness in opposition to the omicron variant. The corporate and its companion, BioNTech, additionally introduced they’re growing a brand new model of their COVID-19 vaccine particularly to fight the brand new omicron variant.
Some info for this report got here from Reuters.