As it is known, scientists in South Africa in the past announced that a new COVID-19 variant was discovered, which led to an increase in cases in the country. This variant, named ‘Omicron’ by the World Health Organization (WHO), was described as ‘worrying’ because it has too many mutations. After these statements of WHO, many countries turned to new travel restrictions; however, despite the restrictions, the variant began to spread rapidly around the world.
Until now, there was no detailed scientific data about Omicron. Experts stated that the contagiousness of the variant was predicted to be high and its symptoms to be mild. Now, a new study on Omicron has been published by the South African National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NICD), and the first scientific data on the variant has been shared with the whole world.
3 times more likely to reinfect
The study, published on Thursday, conducted a statistical analysis of approximately 2.8 million positive coronavirus cases. As a result of the investigations, the experts revealed that the Omicron variant has the ability to evade immunity from previous infections and that the rate of re-infection can be at least 3 times higher than the Beta and Delta variants.
The South African Center for Epidemiological Modeling and Analysis, working with NICD within the scope of the research, also stated that the findings provide the first scientific data on the ability of the Omicron variant to evade immunity. In addition, NICD scientist Anne Von Gottberg said in her statements, “With our study, we have seen that the immunity that emerged with previous infections does not protect against the variant.”
NICD stated in the study it published that the variant is more common among young people and may have milder symptoms compared to previous variants. It was also among the statements that there was a significant increase in South Africa due to the variant, and this increase is expected to continue rapidly.
Finally, scientists at NICD stated that they could not reach sufficient evidence about whether COVID-19 vaccines are effective against the new variant due to lack of data. However, one of the authors of the study, Juliet Pulliam, stated that despite the lack of data, vaccines may be the most effective way against severe disease and death. BioNTech CEO Uğur Şahin also stated in his recent statements that the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine could be ‘probably’ effective against the variant and made some comforting statements.
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