A year has passed since the first dose of vaccine was given in the world

Global Health: There are no indications that "Omicron" is more dangerous than "Delta"

A senior official at the World Health Organization said that there are no indications that the new “Omicron” mutant of the Corona virus is more dangerous compared to the “Delta” mutant, while Britain celebrates today, Wednesday, the provision of the first dose of a vaccine against the Corona virus in the world.

And the World Health Organization's emergency official, Michael Ryan, told AFP that the general behavior of the new mutant does not show any increase in its severity compared to the previous mutant, "Delta", adding that some places in the southern African region reported milder symptoms for people with Omicron, compared to those caused by Omicron. pre-mutants of the virus.

However, the official in the UN region called for caution in dealing with the available initial data, because the new mutant was not detected until last November 24.

The new mutant was detected for the first time in South Africa, then it spread to various continents of the world, and infections were recorded in about 40 countries.

Laboratory studies are currently underway to find out whether the new mutant, which contains many mutations that worries scientists, is more likely to spread, in addition to the extent of its resistance to immunity resulting from the first infection or the vaccine, and whether its impact is more serious.

Michael Ryan said that there is no reason to question the effectiveness of the currently available vaccines against the Corona virus in providing protection against the Omicron mutator, explaining that the available vaccines are highly effective and have proven this against all the Corona virus mutations recorded since the start of the pandemic at the end of the year 2019.

Fauci's statement

In a related context, the chief medical advisor to the Biden administration and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the United States said that it has become almost certain that “Omicron” is not more dangerous than “Delta”, but perhaps it is lighter, and said that determining the severity of the mutated will take weeks.

Fauci said in an interview with the French press agency that what we know is that Omicron is “very clearly contagious” and is most likely more contagious than Delta, the currently most prevalent mutant in the world, and added that Omicron is more capable of circumventing the immunity provided by available vaccines.

Regarding the severity of the infection with the new mutation, the same spokesman said, “There are indications that it may be even less severe, as when looking at the groups that are being followed up in South Africa, the rate of the number of infections relative to the number of cases that require transportation to hospitals seems less than it is.” Same with Delta.

The chief medical adviser to the US President's administration said that a virus that is more contagious and does not cause more severe disease and does not lead to an increase in the number of cases that require hospitalizations and deaths "is the best possible scenario."

Fauci considered that the presence of a virus that is more contagious, does not cause more severe disease and does not lead to an increase in the number of cases that require transfer to hospitals and deaths “is the best possible scenario,” while “the worst scenario is that the virus is not only more contagious, but also causes severe disease.” Thus, another wave of infections appears that is not necessarily relieved by the vaccination or the previous infection.”

In a related development, a study by the South African Health Research Institute showed that the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine showed partial protection against the mutated Omicron during a test in South Africa, and the study added that the blood of people who received two doses of the vaccine and had previously been infected with the virus was able to overcome the new mutant.

The study said that receiving the third booster dose may help to bypass Omicron infection.

First dose

On the other hand, Britain celebrates today, Wednesday, the one-year anniversary of giving the first dose of an anti-coronavirus vaccine in the world, as a 90-year-old British woman received a dose of the Vir-Biontech vaccine on December 8, 2020, becoming the first person in the world to receive the vaccine. The woman described it as "the best thing that happened to her."

On this occasion, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised the success of the vaccination process against the Corona virus in the country, adding that this enabled the removal of precautionary restrictions on the British economy last July, and Johnson stressed that vaccines are the best line of defense against the virus, calling on the British to Contribute to the success of the booster vaccination programme.

It is noteworthy that Britain has given nearly 120 million doses of the anti-virus vaccine, and the number includes those who received the first, second, and third booster doses.