OMICRON BRINGS BACK PANDEMIC FEARS
IT’S A VARIANT OF CONCERN, BUT STILL EARLY DAYS
Dr Satyajit Rath, leading immunologist from India associated with Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, scientist from National Institute of Immunology, physician and pathologist, shares his thoughts.
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A fraction of SARS-CoV-2 virus samples from COVID-19 cases are being routinely tested for the full genetic sequence. Different countries do this differently; some like the UK or South Africa do it intensively, while some like India, much less. When a particular set of differences begin to show up together in these genetic sequences, repeatedly and quickly, alarm bells ring.
That’s because it indicates a new ‘strain’, or ‘variant’ of the virus. This is how the Omicron variant has been identified, initially in Botswana and South Africa, then in neighbouring countries, and now in Israel, Hong Kong and Belgium as traveller cases. Omicron is somewhat concerning for a number of reasons. First, it’s not a descendant of the Delta variant but a ‘cousin’. Second, a new variant commonly shows only a few differences in its genetic sequence, but the Omicron variant shows a large number. Third, many of these changes are
in the sequence coding for the ‘spike’ protein of the virus, which is the target of COVID-19 vaccines, raising the worry that the current vaccines may not protect as well against this variant. Fourth, this variant’s emergence appears to coincide with a sudden spurt in case numbers in South Africa; this indicates, though not proven yet, that it may be much more transmissible than the Delta variant. The first obvious caution is that it is early days as yet, with little definitive information, and we should wait for evidence to emerge. We don’t know if Omicron is ‘really’ as highly transmissible, though it could be, though there’s no reason yet to think it causes severe illness.”
Whether vaccines ‘work’ against a virus or strain is not a ‘yes/no’ issue. Vaccinerelated reality is a graded matter, and not if it’ll protect completely or not at all. While current vaccines may provide slightly reduced protection against it, they will likely still provide some protection. Another possibility is that an additional dose of current vaccines may be adequate. The least likely though not ‘out-of-question’ possibility thus far is that we might need a new-generation vaccine, which will take some time to develop, test, manufacture and deploy.”
What the Omicron variant teaches us is that we need sustained, long-term COVID policies, and desperately need the associated longterm investments in public health, ranging from community health outreach, to virus tracking, to publicly available and accessible critical healthcare facilities, to easy large-scale manufacture and affordable availability of vaccines and drugs. There are no cheap short-term shortcuts