The President of the National Vaccination Committee, Maria Theodoridou, spoke about the Omicron variant, re-infection and vaccines, during the briefing on the coronavirus.
Ms. Theodoridou stressed that Omicron mutation due to its higher transmissibility it can infect both vaccinated and unvaccinated people and cause re-infection.
Specifically, for Omicron, he said that in a short period of time, many studies have been done.
The results of the studies clearly showed that it is more contagious, as there is a doubling of cases every two to three days.
Vaccinated people, who have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic, also become infected and ill.
People who have been infected with another variant have a 5-6 times higher risk of re-infection than Omicron, as natural immunity does not protect them.
South Africa
According to data from South Africa, however, it seems that although the number of cases is higher, hospital admissions are lower and those admitted are in very good condition and do not need oxygen. They also need short-term hospitalization and a much lower mortality rate.
The majority of patients admitted with Omicron are 90% unvaccinated.
As mentioned by Ms. Theodoridou, in the studies the samples are mainly people under 50 years old, therefore we do not know how it will affect older people and vulnerable people.
Optimistic, however, is a new laboratory finding that shows that in the last two weeks the viral load of sewage has decreased. This means that in the area where the Omicron broke out, the recession of the pandemic has already begun.
On the other hand, something that concerns scientists is the ability of Omicron to escape the defense systems of the vaccinated.
Studies have shown that at 25 weeks after the 2 doses of the vaccine the effectiveness against Omicron was 35%, while against Delta at 64%.
However, in 2 weeks after the 3rd dose of the vaccine, the efficacy against Omicron was 76%, while against Delta it was over 90%.
Vaccination of Children
According to data from the CDC from the USA, the safety of vaccines for children is officially confirmed.
As of December 10, more than 7 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine had been given to children, of whom only 3,233 had been reported with side effects, with an average age of 9 years.
97% of cases experienced non-serious side effects.
The main side effects were pain, fever, fatigue, headache and myalgia.
According to this data, less than 10% of the vaccinated children were absent from school, while less than 1% had to go to a doctor.
In total, 8 cases of myocarditis were recorded (4 girls and 4 boys), of which 6 after the second dose of the vaccine. The symptoms of this side effect were mild and went away quickly.
This confirms that the side effects of myocarditis are present, but rare.
Finally, he reported that none of the side effects differed from those already recorded in clinical trials.
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