Omicron Is Coming. The U.S. Must Act Now. Omicron, which early indicators suggest could be more transmissible than even Delta and more likely to cause breakthrough infections, may arrive in the United States soon if it’s not here already. .........
Vaccine manufacturers should also immediately begin developing vaccines specifically for Omicron.
....... This means finally getting the sort of mass testing program that the United States has avoided and which has been part of successful responses to Covid in other countries. ..........Travel bans can remain in place too long because they become more a matter of political signaling than public health.
........Perhaps the best example of responding intelligently to an early warning is Taiwan.
......... Taiwan quashed the initial spread and has effectively contained the crisis for almost two years. ......... Mr. Biden’s ban has similar problems — it won’t even start until Monday, as if the virus takes the weekend off. That’s pandemic theatrics, not public health. ......... The callous mistreatment of South Africa by big pharmaceutical companies continued into this pandemic. Moderna, for example, ran some of its vaccine trials in South Africa but did not donate any to the country or even to Covax, the global vaccine alliance, until much later. .......... Decades of such policies have contributed to high levels of medical mistrust in South Africa, including vaccine hesitancy. Only 35 percent of the adult population is fully vaccinated despite sufficient supplies. ........... BioNTech/Pfizer has already said it could have vaccines targeting this variant in as little as three months. .......... preventing breakthrough infections and blocking progression to severe disease involve different parts of the immune system ............All vaccines are still designed to protect against the original virus that emerged in Wuhan, even though that version is rarely found at this point.
WHO: Omicron poses 'very high' risk
Doctor Who Saw Omicron Early Says Symptoms Different to Delta People infected by omicron in South Africa are showing very different symptoms to those suffering from the delta strain, said the doctor who alerted government scientists to the possibility of a new variant. ........ Patients who contracted it complain of fatigue, head and body aches and occasional sore throats and coughs ......... Delta infections, by comparison, caused elevated pulse rates, resulted in low oxygen levels and a loss of smell and taste ..........
while omicron appeared to be more transmissible, cases appeared to very mild. ......... Still, they do appear to be evading vaccines
. .............. “There have been a number, a significantly large number, of breakthroughs, people who are fully vaccinated being infected” ...... “Those so far have been mild.”
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