WHERE: Vaccine manufacturers should plan to adapt their COVID-19 products

Manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines should be prepared for the “possibility” of having to adapt their products to protect against the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, a World Health Organization spokesman said today.

Christian Lindmeier, speaking at a UN press conference in Geneva, said the agency was examining the transmissibility and severity of the new variant, first identified in South Africa in November.

“There is a strong recommendation that vaccine manufacturers start preparing and planning for the possibility of having to adapt an existing vaccine,” he said.

“It’s good to not just wait until the last alarm goes off,” he said.

South African scientists studying the Omicron outbreak believe that the symptoms are less severe for those who are re-infected with COVID-19 from the new variant or become infected after vaccination, a senior scientist said yesterday, Thursday.

Maria van Kerkov, head of the technical team of the WHO for COVID-19, said Wednesday that the agency expects to have more information on Omicron contagion “within days”.

“It will take some time even if we do not rush to conclusions here,” Lindmeier said today.

“Preliminary data, … show that there is more contagion. But that is all we have so far,” he said.

Delta remains the dominant variant in the world, accounting for more than 90% of infections, Lindmeier said.

“So the Omicron can grow, and we can get to a point where it will surpass the dominant variant, but at that point the very dominant variant remains the Delta,” he said.

“The restrictions imposed in many countries just two weeks ago, the re-closure of the economy, are knocking them out in some areas, the closure of Christmas markets in parts of Europe, this happened before Omicron due to an increase in Delta cases .

“Let us not lose sight of this,” he said.

Lindmeier said that so far the WHO has no information on possible deaths from the new Omicron variant of the virus that causes COVID-19.

“I have not seen any information about Omicron-related deaths,” he said.

As more and more countries are testing to find the new variant, “we will have more cases, more information, and – although I hope not – possibly deaths,” he said.

The new variant, which was described as worrying by the WHO, was first identified in the southern part of Africa, but after the South African authorities informed the WHO. As of November 24, Omicron infections have been detected in about thirty countries on all continents.

Outside of southern Africa, the first infections may have been generally associated with people traveling to the area, but since then the first cases of domestic transmission have begun to occur, in the United States or Australia, for example.

The WHO considers that the possibility of Omicron spreading worldwide is “increased”, although many parameters remain unknown: the infectivity, the effectiveness of the existing vaccines, the severity of the symptoms.

Source: AMPE