Omicron 2, the first signals arrive from Northern Europe on a sub-variant of Omicron (BA.2) that is taking hold. “We still know very little and we must not be alarmed, it is a sub-variant of Omicron. It has most of the characteristics of the original so it should not alarm us because the vaccines are not punctured even by Omicron 2 since they were not punctured by the original Omicron. – he tells Adnkronos Salute Matteo Bassetti, director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic at the San Martino hospital in Genoa – The concept remains that the unvaccinated may have more problems than the immunized but we know well, from Omicron, that natural disease protects us against the most serious forms “.
On the Covid sub-variant renamed Omicron 2 “we have to understand a bit how diffusive it is and what characteristics it has. So I would say for now we are in the news” he says Fabrizio Pregliasco, professor of the University of Milan. The BA.2 variant belongs to the same strain as Omicron, but is distinguished from its ‘big sister’ by some mutations of the Spike protein. “We hope – says the expert at Adnkronos Salute – that it does not have different characteristics, but unfortunately it is all to be discovered”. Bad surprises aside, however, for Pregliasco “in a couple of weeks we should reach the peak” of infections.
The problem of “variants will exist because the” Sars-CoV-2 “coronavirus will continue to mutate. For this reason, it is necessary to invest more in surveillance and sequencing, to understand the impact of each type of mutation – underlines Adnkronos Salute Claudio Mastroianni, president of the Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases (Simit) and full professor of Infectious Diseases at the Sapienza University of Rome – But we must know that the problem, today Omicron 2 of which we still know little, tomorrow another variant, will remain. And we must also have confidence in vaccinations, which are effective today “.
Also for the virologist Giovanni Maga, director of the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Cnr of Pavia, “it is absolutely normal for the Omicron variant of Sars-Cov-2 to change again. However, if these variations of the circulating strain are ‘successful'”, in the sense of making it more a new sub-variant is dangerous, spreading the “we can’t know now” virus more. “The more you look for variants, the more you find, this is a fact”, Maga adds, underlining that “it is very early to understand if this sub-variant could have significant differences compared to Omicron. It is premature. Let’s say that it is quite normal for a virus continue to change. Maybe Omicron 2 disappears because Omicron is more effective. It takes time to understand. During the pandemic, dozens of variants have been identified and monitored and then disappeared “, concludes Maga.
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