Sun. Nov 3rd, 2024
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A leading USA physician and researcher says there’s no firm evidence yet that the Omicron variant is less lethal to unprotected humans than prior strains of the COVID-19.

Dr. Eric Topol, Professor of Molecular Medicine and Executive Vice-President of Scripps Research told PBS News in an interview Dec. 16 that natural immunity could be the reason why the new variant appears less severe – not because the mutation itself is less harmful.

“We have to assume that people who don’t have any protection are highly vulnerable to getting very ill,” he told PBS Newshour.

Topol predicted that due to its high rate of transmissibility (virtually doubliing every 24h) the Omicron variant is going to have a profound impact around the world.

“This is a virus strain that’s doubling just over two days. We have never seen anything like that. We’re seeing it light up in the U.K., in Norway, in Denmark. And it really is exponential growth, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the pandemic started.”

Fortunately, Topol said, Omicron has the appearance to date of being milder. But that could be deceptive. “The problem is that people are ascribing that to the virus. And it’s not related to the virus. It’s because we have so much immunity built by our vaccines, by our boosters, by people who had prior COVID.”

“We have no evidence that the virus itself is more mild. And until we have that, we have to assume that people who don’t have any protection are highly vulnerable to getting very ill.”

Omicron is breaking through the vaccine barrier more readily than earlier versions – creating a higher infection rate, even if it is not yet leading to a higher death rate. MORE HERE …

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