Soumya Swaminathan, a chief scientist in the WHO, said on Friday that the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant could make it more dominant than the Delta variant that now accounts for 99% of infections globally, but any different vaccine may not be necessary. It was too early to comment on the origin and severity of Omicron. Swaminathan raised doubts on the origin of the new variant and said that it could have originated in countries with no proper and enough genome sequencing technology. The WHO has urged the counties to enhance their health care systems and vaccinate their populations as travel restrictions won’t help to fight the Omicron.

Scientists in the EU and Australia were of the view that Omicron would cause more infections than Delta within a few months, but no evidence was sufficient to conclude about the Omicron’s impact on the effectiveness of antibodies. Swaminathan further said that the vaccines were still protecting so people were not getting sick, but there was a need to upgrade the existing vaccines and a booster dose might be enough against Omicron. A WHO technical advisory group was working out whether any new type of vaccine was required against the Omicron variant.Ugur Sahin, the CEO of BioNTech said to Reuters Next earlier that with time a new vaccine might be required against Omicron and that his firm would adapt its vaccine relatively quickly.

Several other countries like Australia, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka also reported their first Omicron infections. As preventive measures, US President Joe Biden announced that international travellers would have to produce a negative COVID test within a day of travel. Germany has made complete vaccination mandatory to carry out essential businesses and legislation works, while Nepal has banned the entry of travellers from eight South African countries and Hong Kong.

Source: ET Healthworld