NEW DELHI, Nov 29: The detection of the new covid variant Omicron in South
Africa and its rapid transmission to far away countries have scared the world.
However, nobody seems to listen to health experts' warning against any misplaced
alarm. International air traffic, already crippled by the pandemic for nearly
two years is sudddenly coming to a halt.
South African scientists are asking for just 14 days to determine how effective
are the available vaccines against Omicron.
Dr Anthony Fauci, top US infectious diseases doctor and the President's chief
medical adviser, said on Sunday, "I don’t think there’s any possibility that
this (Omicron) could completely evade any protection by vaccine. It may diminish
it a bit, but that’s the reason why you boost." He emphasised on the urgent
need for the unvaccinated to take the jab and those who have already been vaccinated
to take the booster dose.
He said so far it is not known whether the Omicron variant causes more severe
disease.
Omicron variant appears to be more transmissible than other variants. It might
evade some of the protection of monoclonal antibodies and even antibodies that
are induced by vaccine, he said.
There is concern over the variant's mutations (50 plus), more than any earlier
variant. "The mutation would strongly suggest that it would be more transmissible
and that it might evade ... perhaps even antibodies that are induced by vaccine."
Americans should be prepared to do anything and everything to fight the spread
of the new variant, he said.
He also said there is no indication that new covid variant is present in the
United States. But he did not rule out. "There are concerns over more transmissibility
and the possibility of the evasion of the immune response. But we do not know
for sure right now."
ALARMING TRANSMISSION: Omicron has rapidly found its way to more countries.
It has been detected in Germany, Belgium, Czech, UK, Australia, Israel, Hong
Kong, Ittaly, Botswana and the Netherlands, apart from South Africa.
CONSOLATION: The structural changes detected in the virus may not necessarily
give rise to a functional change. It may not necessarily be lethal or result
in severe form of disease. There is no such data, ICMR scientist Samiran Panda
told the TOI. The structural changes or mutations found in SARS-COV2 through
genome sequencing in the lab are indicative but do not necessarily mean the
new variant is highly transmissible. But vigilance is needed, he added.
