London, December 13, 2013 : .A booster dose of Covid vaccine might not provide the same protection against Omicron hypermutated variants as Delta.
This was claimed by a University of Bern researcher on Monday. Numerous studies in the USA, UK, and Israel show that 2 doses of Covid vaccine are inadequate.
A booster dose is necessary to combat Omicron.
BBC Radio quoted Dr.Emma Hodcroft as saying that the protection against Omicron is “maybe more than around 70%” and Delta was at 90%.
She said, “This is especially important for elderly or vulnerable people because you don’t have total protection.”
Hodcroft said that Omicron is not as dangerous as the previous versions, but that there were important warnings and precautions.
South Africa’s population tends to be younger than that of the UK, so it’s not as bad.
Many South Africans who have had Omicron infected are either vaccinated or have recovered from Covid.They are therefore less likely to develop serious symptoms.
Omicron can be a serious infection that is not common in many people.It takes weeks to get severe symptoms.
Hodcroft stated that Omicron, even though it is not as harmful, seems to be moving quickly enough that, if many people get it simultaneously in the UK, there could still be a risk of overwhelming the NHS, already overstressed by Delta.
Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that the nation will see a ‘tidal wave’ of Omicron variant, even as the country sees one death due to the variant.
The country’s Covid alert level has also been raised to four due to the spread of the super mutant strain of coronavirus.Level four means a high or rising level of transmission – the last time the UK was at this level was in May.
Declaring an “Omicron emergency”, Johnson also set a new booster target – the third doses will be offered to everyone over 18 in England from this week, three months after their second dose.
A new modelling study, yet-to-be peer-reviewed, projected that the super mutant strain may cause between 25,000 and 75,000 Covid-19 related deaths in the UK by April next year.
According to the School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), in the case of a high immune escape and lower effectiveness of boosters, as predicted, Omicron infections are likely to lead to a peak in hospital admissions around twice as high as the peak seen in January 2021.
If no additional control measures are taken it will cause 492,000 hospitalisations and 74,800 deaths.
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