As in the case of any other variant of COVID, the world is also worried about the new Omicron (B.1.1.529) strain. That’s normal, as they don’t know exactly what to expect. But the World Health Organization (WHO) is once again there to bring some answers.
One of the questions that everybody is asking these days is whether the new Omicron variant of COVID can cause more severe disease than other coronavirus strains or not. Judging by the data brought by worldometers.info, over 5.2 million people have died until now from COVID since the start of the pandemic. Can Omicron cause even more damage?
It’s still uncertain
According to Reuters, the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that it’s not yet clear if Omicron is able to cause more severe disease than other strains of COVID. But while some voices claimed that the new variant is more transmissible than other strains of the coronavirus, the WHO says that there’s also uncertainty in this area as well.
But how about the COVID vaccines that the world currently has? Are they good enough to deal with the Omicron variant? That’s another major question that the world has. Luckily, the former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb brings some good news. He reveals that the vaccine developers themselves add a lot of faith in the current jabs, believing in their potential to successfully tackle the Omicron variant as long as a person receives the booster dose.
However, Dr. Gottlieb still admits that more studies are needed in order to say for sure that the Omicron variant can’t bypass the current vaccines for COVID. However, Pfizer already announced that it’s considering updating its vaccine for the worst-case scenario.
Feel free to tell us how concerned you are about the new Omicron variant of COVID!
