Omicron: Is It Time To Take Some More Steps To Clear Confusion?

After the enormous record-breaking news with respect to The Delta variant of the Sars-Cov virus, Omicron seems to be bypassing all of them. The world is not yet done with the old strain when it is up against another one.

Omicron: Is It Time To Take Some More Steps To Clear Confusion?

Though Omicron is supposed to be milder when compared to Delta, with all the vaccinations and booster doses around, the alarming rates of its propagation are utterly disturbing.

What seemed to have started this December was found to be actually circulating in the populations of South Africa well before that. The emergence of Omicron was like a sudden jolt to the whole world which thought it might be able to repair its wounds with the immunizations and extra shots of the doses.

Although, researches proved that this Omicron could evade the effectiveness of the vaccines designed for the older strains, they are probably strong enough to give some protection which is always better than no protection. But the rate of its transmissibility is shocking everyone around.

Omicron has already claimed one life in the UK and 10 have been admitted to the hospital. And what is more serious about these cases is that not even the vaccinated or the booster dose recipients are left out in this competition of infection.

With the available data, the WHO is suspecting that the records of community transmission of Delta will be broken by Omicron. UK health secretary, Sajid Javid, is apprehensive that a situation might arise where the world would be short of vaccines again. 

But how necessary are these vaccines at this point in time? The question arises as studies from Oxford University claim that vaccines from AstraZeneca, administered mostly in the UK and Pfizer-BioNTech which has been used in the US, Europe, and other countries, do not hold the capacity to fight against the new strain.

The vaccines have worked well in the case of Delta, but are not promising enough in this case. In fact, most of the cases reported are fully vaccinated and had even received the booster doses. More so, the initial infections were seen in healthy individuals with no specific symptoms. Yet, internal medicine specialist, Dr. Jorge Rodriguez of Los Angeles feels that the vaccines should surely protect those individuals who are more vulnerable and hence, more susceptible to disease contraction. 

Officials in Houston have reported that Omicron has been detected in the wastewaters in spite of a lack of test reports of infected people. This evidence backs the idea of community spread. Omicron might be milder, at least that is what it is thought to be, but the spread is huge.

Till date, Delta has already wreaked havoc in the lives of the people almost throughout the world. Now, in the case of Omicron too, we have no clue. People of the UK seem to be dealing with it right now, but that does not ensure that it will not spread in the US or anywhere else. The US has reported over 50 million cases of infection lately and is suspected to cross 800,000 deaths very soon. The hospitals are once again fighting for empty beds.

This new strain is still like an unknown enemy with its many mutations that just cannot be tamed by the old immunizations. Research has to find the answer and soon enough. The spread is so rapid that very soon the world will be entering yet another pandemic.

Although the infections are mild when compared to Delta, the muted version does not give any indication as to how and when it is going to attack us. Even the vaccinated and boosted individuals are enlisted. Nevertheless, till the time we have any new data, people are been urged to get vaccinated.