Also, the degree of protection against symptomatic infection from the variant after two doses of the vaccine is from 0% to 20% and after the booster dose from 55% to 80%.
In addition, people who contracted coronavirus have only 19% protection against the new strain.
As explained in the study, the percentage of protection is determined by the body, age and health problems.
However, the British scientists also find in their study that the new Omicron mutation does not seem to manifest with milder symptoms, as tends to be the general assumption.
The model used by the Imperial College London research team was based on relatively limited data on the Omicron mutation.
They thus note that there is a high degree of uncertainty until more "real world" information is gathered about the new rapidly spreading variant.
Preliminary evidence from the Imperial research suggests that there will be a reduction in the effectiveness of vaccines against Omicron.
Even with a booster dose, protection from severe disease against Omicron, they calculated, ranged between 80% and 85.9%, compared to the 97% achieved by vaccines against Delta
However, there are other elements of the immune system that can fight Covid, such as T- lymphocytes. This research has not been able to assess the effect of these.
One of the Imperial researchers, Professor Azra Ghani, tells BBC: "One of the elements of uncertainty that remain is how severe the disease caused by Omicron will be compared to that caused by the other variants.
Although it will take several weeks to fully understand this, governments need to put plans in place to prevent any potential impact. Our results demonstrate the importance of administering the booster dose as part of a wider health response."
For his part, Dr Clive Dix (Clive Dix) former head of the British Immunisation Committee, states: "There is a huge amount of uncertainty in these model estimates and we will only be able to be confident about the effect of third doses against Omicron when we have an extra month's worth of real-world data. Data on hospital admissions, ICU admissions, numbers and casualties.
The only certainty remains that we need to be able to administer vaccines - now and in the future - around the world."
Source: skai.gr</B-15
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Times
Sourcehttps://cyprustimes.com/ygeianews/i...ros-o-kindynos-epanamolynsis-apo-tin-omikron/
