The World Health Organization stated on Wednesday that preliminary evidence suggests COVID-19 vaccines may be less effective against infection and transmission connected to the Omicron coronavirus variation, which also carries a higher risk of reinfection as reported by Reuters.
Immunization
More data is needed to better understand the extent to which Omicron may circumvent protection gained from immunizations or past infection, according to the WHO’s weekly epidemiological bulletin.
“As a result of this, the total risk associated with the new variety of concern Omicron remains extremely high,” it stated, repeating WHO officials’ warnings from an online briefing on Tuesday.
Delta variant
The percentage of Delta sequences registered on the GISAID global science database has decreased this week compared to other variants of concern for the first time since the dominant Delta variant was identified as a variant of concern in April, it added.
This should be viewed with caution, since countries may do focused sequencing for Omicron, resulting in fewer sequences being uploaded for all other variations, including Delta, according to the report.
However, the Delta variation remains prevalent, accounting for 99.2% of the almost 880,000 sequences uploaded to GISAID with specimens collected during the last 60 days.
However, with the emergence of the Omicron variety, the fraction of Alpha, Beta, and Gamma is decreasing. Omicron accounted for 3,755 (0.4%) of the total, while the other three variations of concern accounted for 401 (less than 0.1%) each.
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Source: Reuters
