Be prepared to face global threat from Omicron

It ain’t over till it’s over” is a gem from a Yankee baseball player’s quirky aphorisms which best captures the Coronavirus scenario as the new Covid-19 variant named Omicron fast assumes the contours of a global threat, potentially greater than even its deadly predecessor, Delta. A variant with multiple spike proteins is threatening to bring back the horrors of 2020 lockdowns that crippled the world’s economy. In a ticking time bomb atmosphere of a modern pandemic, this mutation was a disaster waiting to happen as the virus was free to cross between the vaccinated and unvaccinated populations and evolve in its mastery of getting into human cells.

The world is seen to be responding a shade quicker in terms of curbs on flights after South Africa’s molecular vigilance let out early warnings. Given the experience of the Delta variant, against which the response in terms of curbing International travel was slow, the world was quick to react. But is it too late already as Omicron seems poised to test the hospital and health infrastructure?

“Unusual symptoms but in a milder form” is an early diagnosis but, worryingly, Omicron is thought to be more transmissible and better capable of evading the body’s immune responses than prior versions. The existing vaccines could still be effective against it and, even so, Pharma may have to reformulate their shots to take in the changed spike pattern.

The beauty of mRNA vaccines is they can be quickly designed, developed and manufactured but getting them to all the eligible people is a different ball game altogether. In that sense, the new Variant of Concern may have defeated us already though a lot more study is required to make out whether it is much more transmissible, can beat the vaccine and reinfect even those who have had Covid-19.

Changes to the spike protein may seem disconcerting as vaccines have been designed for the body to recognise the spike shape and, if they change too much, the immune system may become blind to an infection and the hard-won protection the vaccines provide may be lost. It does, however, appear that certain deletion in the side protein means Omicron can be picked up through PCR testing and so tracking might be simpler.

What the advent of the virus exposes in its new avatar that took shape in southern Africa is the inequity of vaccine distribution and delivery of jabs into people, of whom only about 4.2 billion have taken at least one jab. With only half the global population covered so far, there is plenty of room for Omicron to spread havoc before its subsides into an endemic disease.

The most optimistic scenario is it may take over as the dominant strain and in the event of it not proving as deadly as Delta in terms of hospitalisations and deaths, it might even help see us to the end of the pandemic. A sense of proportion is called for and if that has been lost in the early panic as seen in Indian scientists’ reaction in saying the new variant is six times more transmissible, it must be regained for life to go on.

The best the world can do is to hold its breath while science studies Omicron in depth and hope for the best. To lock down again as a knee-jerk reaction would be an invitation to disaster in terms of everything — foremost the economy and children’s education. Meanwhile, the mask is our best protection and isolation of the infected is an effective shield against transmission.

What the advent of the virus exposes in its new avatar that took shape in southern Africa is the inequity of vaccine distribution and delivery of jabs into people