The large number of mutations in the strain can weaken its ability to penetrate the lungs, he said.
"If it is, like the Wuhan strain and all the previous ones before the delta strain, then the memory cells will work and protect you and me," TASS quotes Gintsburg as saying.
He clarified that if this strain is like a "delta", then its rate of development of a severe form of the disease may increase.
Earlier, Alexander Gintsburg said that experimental work on obtaining a new version of the vaccine against the omicron coronavirus strain will take no more than ten days, followed by regulatory procedures.