Omicron: Are vaccines & treatments effective against new COVID variant? Know WHO's answer

Preliminary evidence has suggested that there may be an increased risk of reinfection with B.1.1.529 a variant of concern, named Omicron but the potential impact of this variant on the existing countermeasures, treatments, including vaccines is not yet clear, the WHO has said. The global health agency is working with technical partners to understand the new highly mutated variant’s impact on the body’s immune systems and the protection from the vaccine. However, in a press statement, Sunday, the WHO pushed for getting inoculated, stating that the "vaccines remain critical to reducing severe COVID-19 disease and death, as was seen during the dominant circulating variant Delta". It also added that the COVID-19 treatments such as the Corticosteroids and IL6 Receptor Blockers "will still be effective for managing patients with severe symptoms."

“Other treatments will be assessed to see if they are still as effective given the changes to parts of the virus in the Omicron variant,” said the WHO on Nov. 28. 

The WHO is coordinating with a large number of researchers globally to better understand Omicron and the research underway will shortly include assessments of the highly mutated strain’s transmissibility, severity of infection, its symptoms, performance of vaccines and diagnostic tests, and effectiveness of treatments. The organziation has asked the countries worldwide to provide the hospitalised patient data through the WHO COVID-19 Clinical Data Platform and rapidly describe “clinical characteristics and patient outcomes” among those infected with Omicron variant. More information will emerge in the coming days and weeks as TAG-VE will continue to monitor and evaluate the data, said the WHO.  

“This could be bad. This could be very bad. But we don’t know enough to roll that tape forward," William Hanage, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has told United States'  New York Times newspaper as more information is awaited. 

Earlier when asked on whether the Omicron  is as or more transmissible than the delta  and other mutations, US top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House chief medical adviser said in his televised remarks: “It appears to be. It has a bunch of mutations," Fauci said, including "a disturbingly large number of mutations in the spike protein, which is the business end of the virus.”

He also  iterated that the existing COVID-19 vaccines were likely to provide "a degree of protection against severe cases of this variant. 

Pfizer says can launch new vaccine in 100 days if Omicron evades immunity 

Earlier, Pfizer's co-manufacturer BioNTech stated that it can tweak and launch a new updated version of its COVID-19  mRNA vaccine in just about 100 days if the newly detected 'Omicron' variant of the novel coronavirus spreading in southern Africa is capable of evading the jabs’ immunity. The pharmaceutical company in a statement obtained by Fox News said that it is already investigating if Pfizer’s current vaccines will be effective in combating the severe symptoms of the Omicron strain which has more than 32 mutations on protein spike and makes this variant more virulent. “In the event that vaccine-escape variant emerges, Pfizer and BioNTech expect to be able to develop and produce a tailor-made vaccine against that variant in approximately 100 days, subject to regulatory approval," the firm stressed.