Thinking that Omicron will be the last variant is ‘too optimistic’, says WHO expert

The emergence of new variants of the coronavirus is entirely possible, said this Thursday (6) Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO (World Health Organization) health emergencies program, when asked if the omicron could be the last strain of Sars-CoV-2.

“We can hope [de ser a última variante], but we don’t do enough to prevent new [cepas]”, afirmou Ryan.

He highlighted that billions of people have not yet been vaccinated and this is an important factor, because it helps the virus to change.

Maria Van Kerkhove, technical leader of the Covid-19 emergency program, also indicated that failure to vaccinate the world’s population is a great risk for the emergence of new variants.

“The less this virus circulates, the less opportunity to change. Therefore, vaccinating is crucial, it is important,” he said.

The organization’s director general, Tedros Adhanom, said that at the current vaccination rate, “109 countries will not reach the target of vaccinating the entire population by the beginning of July 2022”.

The director reiterated the importance of greater equity in the distribution of immunizations around the world.

Adhanom also drew attention to the risk that, although “omicron appears to be less severe than delta, this does not mean that it should be classified as mild”. “As with previous variants, the omicron is causing hospitalizations and deaths,” he added.

Last Wednesday (29), Adhanom said that the “tsunami” created by the simultaneous circulation of the delta and omicron variants was bringing “health systems to the brink of collapse”.

The accelerated spread of the omicron can be seen in the increase in cases of Covid-19 in some regions of the planet since December.

In the American continent, according to data from the WHO epidemiological bulletin, also released last Wednesday (29), there was a 39% increase in diagnoses of infection when compared to the previous week.

In Brazil, there is already great pressure for care in public and private hospitals because of the high number of flu and Covid cases. Furthermore, the moving average of Sars-CoV-2 infections grew by 223% compared to data from two weeks ago.

Characterized by its high transmission capacity, the omicron is already the predominant strain in some countries, such as the United States and the United Kingdom. In Brazil, a survey released in the last week of 2021 indicated that it is already responsible for more than 30% of coronavirus infections and was found in eight states in the country.

Studies have also indicated that the new variant is less aggressive when compared to other strains, such as delta. Even so, because it is much more transmissible, it can lead to extreme situations of demand on health systems.

The WHO, in a previous press conference, had already stated that the use of vaccines alone will not be enough to stop the transmission of the micron. Experts reiterate the importance of taking other actions, such as avoiding large agglomerations, wearing protective masks and giving preference to well-ventilated environments.

Still in relation to vaccines, pharmaceutical companies are already carrying out studies to measure whether immunizers are effective against the variant. BioNTech and Pfizer, for example, said that three doses of their vaccine neutralized the new variant in a lab test.

Another study with Janssen suggested that an extra dose of the vaccine reduces hospitalizations caused by the omicron, reiterating the evidence that booster is essential against the strain.