“We don’t have enough data to determine vaccine effectiveness against omicron or disease severity, so any claims about either at this stage are not evidence-based,” said Raina MacIntyre, professor of global biosecurity at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. “So far, the virus has not mutated to become less severe -- in fact the opposite.”
Governments around the world are banning travelers from South Africa and nearby countries amid fears omicron could evade vaccines, exacerbate Covid surges and frustrate efforts to reopen economies. While news of the new variant wreaked havoc in global financial markets on Friday, trading in Asia Monday indicated investors were waiting for more clarity as scientists work to better understand omicron.
Omicron’s mutations may make it easier for the virus to evade existing immunity, the WHO said in a technical briefing document for its members. It warned of “future surges of Covid-19, which could have severe consequences.”
The variant was first detected earlier this month. It’s characterized by some 30 or more genetic changes, half of which are in the part of the spike protein used to bind to human ACE-2, which is the enzyme the coronavirus targets to enter cells and cause an infection. Mutations there can make the spike protein less recognizable to the antibodies produced in response to vaccination or a natural infection.
Urgent Meeting
The U.K. government will convene an urgent meeting of Group of Seven health ministers Monday to discuss the latest developments, according to the country’s Department of Health. In the U.S., President Joe Biden will also give an update on Monday, the White House said.
Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association, called symptoms associated with the variant at this point “different and so mild” compared with others she’s treated in recent months.
Coetzee, who first spotted what turned out to be the new variant, told the U.K.’s Telegraph newspaper that a number of healthy young men turned up at her clinic “feeling so tired.” About half were unvaccinated.
“What we are seeing clinically in South Africa and remember, I’m at the epicenter, that’s where I’m practicing, is extremely mild,” she said Sunday on the BBC’s “Andrew Marr Show.”
Asked if authorities around the world were panicking unnecessarily, Coetzee said, “Yes, at this stage I would say definitely. Two weeks from now on maybe we will say something different.”
Experts elsewhere, however, followed the WHO in urging caution.
Richard Lessells, an infectious-diseases physician at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, said a rapid understanding of disease severity caused by omicron is critical, but it’s too early for reliable data. The time it takes for infections to progress to severe disease or hospitalization means omicron’s impact may not be apparent for a few more weeks.
‘Be Cautious’
“Observations from clinicians on the ground are always important, and we lean heavily on them, but we need to be cautious about jumping on early reports that all cases with this variant are mild,” Lessells said in a Twitter post Sunday.
Omicron has a large number of mutations that are concerning experts. Preliminary evidence suggests that the variant could come with an increased risk of reinfection. Hospitalization rates have been increasing in South Africa, “but this may be due to increasing overall numbers of people becoming infected, rather than a result of specific infection with Omicron,” WHO said in a statement.
Infections from omicron in South Africa have also been increasing, but it is unclear yet if it is specifically because of the variant or due to other factors.
Experts are urging caution and calm over the variant, but the globe remains on edge over the COVID-19 pandemic that has claimed over 5.2 million lives.
Leading infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said on Monday that no cases of the variant have been documented in the U.S. but said it is “inevitable” that it will turn up eventually.
Fauci met with President Joe Biden over the weekend to discuss the variant, telling Biden that it will “take approximately two more weeks to have more definitive information on the transmissibility, severity, and other characteristics of the variant,” according to a readout of their meeting.
Biden urged Americans to get vaccinated in response to the news and told other countries to step up their vaccine donations. He said the news should make clear that “this pandemic will not end until we have global vaccinations.”
“The United States has already donated more vaccines to other countries than every other country combined,” Biden said in a statement on Friday. “It is time for other countries to match America’s speed and generosity.”
Vaccine makers including Moderna and Pfizer are studying how the variant could impact the efficacy of their shots. Fauci said that, depending on the data that comes out in the coming days and weeks, a booster shot specifically targeted to the variant may not be needed.
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