Omicron variant spreads with unprecedented speed, says WHO

The transmission speed of the omicron variant follows an unprecedented pace, said the WHO (World Health Organization) on Tuesday (14). Tedros Adhano, director of the organization, stated that the new strain has already been found in 77 countries.

In addition, experts said that the use of vaccines alone will not be enough to stop the transmission of omicrons.

“It is necessary to act now [para evitar pressão nos sistemas de saúde]”, said Michael Ryan, executive director of the emergency health program at the entity. He called attention to other measures, such as wearing a mask, avoiding crowds, ensuring well-ventilated environments and doing tests and genetic sequencing.

In the state of São Paulo, five cases caused by omicron have already been confirmed. The variant triggered the alert of the international community because of its large number of mutations.

Of most concern are the 30 present in protein S, which are used by the virus to enter human cells. It is from these proteins that current vaccines are produced and, therefore, studies are being carried out to understand whether they could be less efficient against the strain.

BioNTech and Pfizer said three doses of their product neutralized the new variant in a laboratory test. According to the companies, two doses resulted in significantly lower neutralizing antibodies against it, but a third dose increased neutralizing antibodies.

The WHO had already indicated that further studies were needed to confirm whether the booster of the vaccine would be sufficient against the strain. This Tuesday (14), Adhano said that the organization “is not against vaccine boosters”, but is “in favor of equity [das vacinas]”, indicating the need to immunize people in countries still with low vaccination coverage.

Another British Health Safety Agency survey indicated that two doses of Pfizer or AstraZeneca have far less protection against omicron compared to delta. With the booster dose, it was seen that the protection against symptomatic infections was around 70% for the two immunizers.

Studies targeting a third dose of immunizers against omicron are also being carried out by other pharmaceutical companies. Moderna, for example, plans to produce a specific dose for omicron, which could be ready in March 2022.

Sinovac, the Chinese company that makes Coronavac, is another drugmaker that schedules an updated version of the omicron vaccine in up to three months.

Even with these suspicions, the WHO has already pointed out that the available immunization agents are still extremely important to stop the transmission of the virus and prevent deaths caused by Covid-19.

In this Tuesday’s interview, all the organization’s experts asked countries to increase their vaccination rates in order to avoid more critical scenarios of the pandemic.

Some issues that are still open are the transmissibility and the severity of the variant. According to the WHO, preliminary data show that the new strain has a higher transmission capacity than the delta, but causes less severe clinical conditions.

The organization stated on Sunday (12) that “the micron must surpass the delta in places where there is community transmission”.

For now, the protective masks must be reinforced to block transmission of the variant, experts say. Another measure taken against the transmission of the variant is the adoption of the vaccination passport to allow entry only to people on international trips who already have the complete vaccination schedule.

In Brazil, Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), determined that the passport for the Covid-19 vaccine is mandatory for all travelers traveling to the country from abroad.

Since Monday (13), Anvisa began to demand a vaccination certificate from anyone who enters Brazil through airports or at the land border, but it has already been reported that not all travelers undergo inspection.

Recently, the AGU (Attorney General of the Union) asked Barroso to revoke the mandatory passport by stating that “Brazilians and foreigners residing in Brazil may return to the country in the event of not carrying proof of immunization, provided they comply with quarantine”.