Is a specific vaccine necessary to combat the omicron variant?
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(CNN) -
The omicron variant of the new coronavirus is spreading rapidly in several countries where it has been discovered.
Even if it only causes mild illness - which is far from certain - that could mean that many people will end up in the hospital and die.
In the UK it has already killed at least one person and brought 10 more to hospital, most of them vaccinated, according to government authorities.
"It is spreading faster than the delta variant in South Africa where delta circulation was low, but it also appears to be spreading faster than the delta variant in other countries where delta incidence is high, such as the UK," he said. the World Health Organization (WHO) in a technical briefing last week.
Meet the first patient with the omicron variant detected in the US 1:35
"With the data currently available, it is likely that omicron will outperform the delta variant where community transmission already occurs," the WHO added.
How serious is the omicron variant?
It is not clear how severe the new variant is, although most of the cases that have been diagnosed so far have been mild.
That might be reassuring, but if omicron spreads more easily than delta and earlier variants, evades the protection offered by vaccines and previous infections, and ends up infecting more people, that could mean more people will end up in the hospital and more. they will die.
"What we now know about omicron is that ... it is spreading at a phenomenal rate, something we have never seen before. Infections are doubling every two to three days," UK Health Secretary Sajid said on Monday. Javic, to Sky News.
"That means we are facing a wave of infection. Once again, we are in a race between the vaccine and the virus."
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A new study on Monday by researchers at the University of Oxford adds to the evidence that two of the main vaccines implemented against COVID-19, the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is widely used in Britain and around the world, but not in the US, and the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine.
Widely used in USA, Europe and other places, it will not protect people so well against omicron variant.
"Our findings show that the effectiveness of the vaccine against symptomatic disease with the omicron variant is significantly lower than with the delta variant," the researchers wrote.
Infects both those vaccinated and those on booster doses
Several reports indicate that at least some of those infected with omicron had already been vaccinated and received booster doses, and tests against blood samples from vaccinated and booster people indicate the same.
What this may indicate is that vaccines, and especially booster doses, provide good protection against severe disease with the omicron variant, doctors say, although it's too early to know for sure.
Health authorities note that many of the first cases have been observed among travelers and people who may be in good health and who could take other precautions.
Disease modelers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine released a report on Saturday that projects infections in England surpass last winter's peak in terms of daily numbers.
This could translate to twice the daily hospital admissions than last year, they wrote in a pre-printed report posted online.
What is really uncertain is what omicron will do with the most vulnerable people, who are unlikely to be among the first infected, but who will eventually see how the virus presents itself to them.
This could include older adults, people who are immunosuppressed at various levels, and people with pre-existing medical conditions.
How does omicron compare to other variants?
What You Should Know 3:43
Searching for the susceptible
"This virus will eventually seek out and land in the people who are most susceptible, and those are the ones who haven't been vaccinated, A, and also the ones who haven't gotten a booster dose. It's not a question of whether it's going to happen, but from when, "Los Angeles-based internal medicine specialist Dr. Jorge Rodríguez told CNN.
"These high numbers can still mean a lot of people in the hospital," Dr. Crystal Watson, a senior associate at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Safety, told CNN.
While only a few cases have been identified in the US so far, there is little reason to think that it will not spread in the country as it has elsewhere.
Houston authorities said last week that the omicron variant had been detected in sewage there, although it had yet to show up in tests of people diagnosed with the virus.
That could indicate a quiet spread in the community, something that would not be surprising for a variant that causes mild symptoms or no symptoms.
WFTV reported similar findings in central Florida, but cited Altamonte Springs City Manager Frank Martz, who said detection of any genetic material from the virus indicated that more than one person in the area was infected with the variant. .
Even without omicron adding to the spread, the delta variant combined with an unvaccinated population is already doing a lot of damage.
The United States surpassed 50 million reported cases of coronavirus infection on Monday and is fast approaching 800,000 deaths.
CEOs of several Minnesota health care systems signed a full-page newspaper ad asking people to get vaccinated.
"Our emergency departments are overwhelmed and we have patients in every bed in our hospitals," the ad read.
"Their access to healthcare is seriously threatened by covid-19. We need to stop the spread!"
He also urges people to get vaccinated and receive a booster dose, wear masks and get tested for the virus.
CNN's Jamie Gumbrecht, Naomi Thomas, and Robert Iddiols contributed to this story.
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