There is still a lot of unknown information about omicron, the new variant of COVID-19 that the World Health Organization (WHO) has already classified as “worrying”. Last Monday, November 29, it was detected the first case of the new strain in Spain, but there are still many unknowns to solve.
In any case, some Spanish researchers have wanted launch a message of reassurance. Luis Enjuanes, virologist who develops a vaccine against COVID-19 of the CSIC, has declared that “the normal thing” would be that the pathology of the strain ends up decreasing if it spreads too fast. Vicente Larraga, father of another of the COVID-19 vaccine projects, agrees with him. considers the omicron variant as “one more”.
It can be detected with the Alpha variant tests
Now the new variant has been proven to be easily detectable thanks to a hospital test, in accordance with The world. According to Iñaki Comas, a researcher at the CSIC’s Institute of Biomedicine of Valencia, the new strain it can be identified with the same tests that are used for the Alpha variant. “That allows us to have a very fast detection system,” says Comas.
At the moment, little information is available on omicron. Presents up to 27 mutations, some “associated with a higher transmissibility“And others related to the”reduction of antibodies of our immune reaction “, indicates Comas, who is concerned about the modifications because” we have seen many of them separately, but never all together”.
How would omicron develop in other countries?
“You have to analyze the contexts and, in this case, it seems that it has grown a lot and fast because has not competed with other variants like the Delta. In addition, it must be taken into account that where has it occurred a high percentage of the population the infection had passed. These are two questions to evaluate, that’s why we have to wait to see if in other countries it has the same trajectory “, indicates the expert.
That is, it remains to be seen cHow the variant develops in countries with different epidemiological situations. For example, according to Comas, the Beta variant “was one that we were very concerned about at the time but never took off beyond South Africa.” How would it affect countries with a higher vaccination rate like Spain? You have to wait to see it.
“It is difficult for this variant to escape vaccination”
Regarding the effectiveness of vaccines, Salvador Peiró, specialist in Preventive Medicine and Public Health at Fisabio, believes that, a priori, “it’s hard that this variant escapes from the vaccination. It may lose a bit of effectiveness, but for that we recommend the third dose. “
In addition, Comas has requested that countries that rapidly report new strains are not “punished” or in which they originate, because “perhaps we are discouraging others from sounding the alarm when it happens to them and then we lose the advantage of being able to prepare.”
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