Even though the COVID-19 pandemic seemed over to most of us, it was only a matter of time before new variants would emerge and cause fear and anxiety. It was so, discussions started about whether a variant that we have just received information about will increase restrictions and deaths.
Yesterday, we shared with you the news that a new vaccine could be developed for the ‘Omicron’ variant in question. So what is this Omicron variant? Is the Omicron variant more contagious or more lethal? Let’s take a look at everything we know about the variant for now.
What is Omicron?
The Omicron variant was recently discovered in South Africa. At first, ‘B. The variant known as 1.529’ was named by the World Health Organization with the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet, Omicron. Although the WHO said that the main effects of the variant will be detected in a few weeks, even the presence of a new variant was enough to cause concern. Because some scientists said that it was necessary to wait, while others stated that the variant was the worst so far.
How effective is the Omicron variant? Is it more contagious?
The Omicron variant seems to be mostly in South Africa for now. The variant, which was only a few days old, has already surpassed Delta cases in the region. This shows that the virus has spread very quickly and may have reached the whole world in the last 2-3 days. The variant has 32 mutations in the spike protein and 10 mutations in the receptor binding site. The fact that the variant, which has a total of 50 mutations, has developed so quickly has surprised scientists.
It is important how many mutations there are in the part that allows the virus to come into contact with our cells. In the delta variant, the number of mutations in this part was 2. In Omicron, this number is 10. In addition to the rapid spread in South Africa, this information indicates that the new variant may be very contagious. While nothing is clear about its lethality, Professor Richard Lessells of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa said: “These new mutations worry us that the variant may have increased infectiousness, human-to-human transmission ability, while also improving the ability to transcend the immune system more easily.” He warns against the virus using his expressions.
Is there an effective vaccine or drug against Omicron?
Of course, there is currently no specific drug for Omricon. Even a drug recommendation that can be used in the treatment process takes a while to come, and we can say that it has been 2 days since the variant appeared. So our minds go directly to whether current COVID-19 vaccines are protective against this variant. We regret to say that even this is not clear at the moment. We had the same fear when the Delta variant first appeared. Afterwards, we were somewhat relieved by the knowledge that mRNA vaccines provide a great deal of protection against this variant.
So what do we do if current vaccines don’t protect against the Omicron variant? We think we will wait for the vaccines to be updated. BioNTech made a statement on this issue only yesterday and stated that it could produce a new vaccine within 100 days if necessary. No scientist sees the possibility that vaccines will not protect against the variant at all. However, if the protection rate drops significantly, the current vaccines will be updated and new vaccines will be created. That’s why US President Joe Biden calls for the removal of vaccine patents, saying, “The news about this new variant shows more clearly than ever that the pandemic will not end until we reach global vaccination.”
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