The World Health Organization (WHO) knows a little more about the dangerousness of Omicron.

"Preliminary data from South Africa suggests a risk of reinfection" of people cured of the disease or vaccinated "higher with Omicron", announced the organization on Wednesday.

His boss Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, however, remains cautious and specifies that "more data is needed" to draw firmer conclusions.

"There is also some evidence that Omicron causes less severe symptoms than Delta - currently the most common variant - but again it is too early to be certain," he added.

"A third dose will reduce the risk of infection"

Pfizer and BioNTech for their part insisted on the effectiveness of their current vaccine against the Omicron variant.

These announcements were preceded by those of senior scientists from the WHO and the White House, according to which the existing vaccines against Covid-19 remain a priori relevant to this variant, the recent discovery of which in South Africa arouses a wind of panic.

The American virologist Angela Rasmussen estimated that the first data published by Pfizer and other independent studies were "at least encouraging".

“A third dose will reduce the risk of infection occurring in those vaccinated,” she said.

However, she urged caution, antibody levels, the only ones measured here, not being the only way to counter the disease.

Thus, "the question that cannot be answered yet is the impact on the severity of the disease" caused by Omicron, she stressed.

How effective for vaccines?

According to the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI), a South African organization which sponsored one of the first studies on resistance to Omicron vaccines, it "partly escapes the immunity conferred" by the Pfizer vaccine. . “The general behavior that we are seeing so far shows no increase in severity (of the disease). In fact, some places in southern Africa are reporting milder symptoms, ”said Dr Michael Ryan, WHO emergency manager.

Omicron is, however, "clearly highly transmissible", possibly more so than Delta, admitted Dr Fauci.

It is also "probably not sufficiently neutralized after two doses", admitted Wednesday the groups Pfizer and BioNTech.

But "the vaccine is still effective against Covid-19 (...) if it has been administered three times", they said, based on unpublished studies.

The two laboratories have nevertheless indicated that they would "continue to develop a specific vaccine" against Omicron, hoping "to make it available by March in case an adaptation is necessary".

Health

Coronavirus: Immunocompromised people, breeding ground for the emergence of the Omicron variant?

Health

Coronavirus: The number of intensive care admissions is increasing rapidly in French hospitals

  • Anti-covid vaccine

  • Contamination

  • Covid 19

  • epidemic

  • Oms

  • Omicron variant

  • Health

  • Coronavirus

  • 0 comment

  • 0 share

    • Share on Messenger

    • Share on Facebook

    • Share on twitter

    • Share on Flipboard

    • Share on Pinterest

    • Share on Linkedin

    • Send by Mail

  • To safeguard

  • A fault ?

  • To print