Covid-19 - The new variant Omicron | Ipse by Context

World Health Organization

Inserted 2 years ago

“There are still limited data on the clinical severity of Omicron. More data are needed to understand the severity profile and how severity is impacted by vaccination and pre-existing immunity. There are still limited available data, and no peer-reviewed evidence, on vaccine efficacy or effectiveness to date for Omicron.”

Aljazeera

Statement by World Health Organization

18 Dec 2021 3 4

Sandra Ciesek

Inserted 2 years ago

“A booster jab will pump up your protection to 70-75% and it will also reduce your risk of a severe infection but that could also lend you a false sense of security. While it is important to get the unvaccinated vaccinated, first jabs would not be enough to fight off omicron. It takes many weeks for the immune system to develop a defense. The virus moves faster than that.”

Dw

Director of the Institute of Medical Virology at the University Hospital Frankfurt

17 Dec 2021 7 6

Angela Rasmussen

Inserted 2 years ago

“People are sick of the pandemic and God knows I am, but unless we can get some urgency to compel our leaders to take action, I really see 2022 being a lot of more of the same that we saw in 2021.”

Reuters

Virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada

17 Dec 2021 2 3

Anthony Fauci

Inserted 2 years ago

“Besides the toll of suffering and death which will inevitably go up if in fact we have that convergence in the winter months of flu and omicron and delta, we could get our hospital systems overwhelmed. With omicron breathing down our back, things could get really bad, particularly for the unvaccinated. The vaccinated and those who are boosted I believe will be relatively well protected, at least against severe disease.”

Thehill

Top US infectious disease expert

16 Dec 2021 6 5

Jeremy Kamil

Inserted 2 years ago

“These authors found Omicron replicates fantastically well - even far better than either Delta or the original virus - in bronchial tissue. This could in some ways contribute to an advantage in spread/transmission between people. Of course, a huge component of Omicron's transmissibility in real life is going to be its potential to escape neutralising antibodies that protect against infect in the first place. It's very likely spreading well even between vaccinated people, especially those who haven't recently gotten a booster shot.”

Theguardian

Associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Louisiana State University Health Shreveport

15 Dec 2021 8 3

Michael Chan Chi-wai

Inserted 2 years ago

“It is also noted that by infecting many more people, a very infectious virus may cause more severe disease and death even though the virus itself may be less pathogenic. Therefore, taken together with our recent studies showing that the Omicron variant can partially escape immunity from vaccines and past infection, the overall threat from the Omicron variant is likely to be very significant.”

Theguardian

Associate Professor University of Hong Kong - Division of Public Health Laboratory Sciences

15 Dec 2021 6 2

Peter Jüni

Inserted 2 years ago

“Most people in Canada, like other wealthy countries, haven't been infected with COVID-19. So if they lack vaccine protection they are especially vulnerable to Omicron. What really worries me is that people are asleep at the steering wheel, internationally. They have wishful thinking it will be mild ... This is not a realistic attitude. I'm completely exhausted. I've had it. I'm done completely. But the virus doesn't care.”

Reuters

Director of Ontario's COVID-19 Science Advisory Table

15 Dec 2021 5 4

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Inserted 2 years ago

“Seventy-seven countries have now reported cases of Omicron, and the reality is that Omicron is probably in most countries, even if it hasn't been detected yet. Omicron is spreading at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant. Surely, we have learned by now that we underestimate this virus at our peril. Even if Omicron does cause less severe disease, the sheer number of cases could once again overwhelm unprepared health systems.”

Aljazeera

Director-General of the World Health Organization

14 Dec 2021 5 2

Kate O'Brien

Inserted 2 years ago

“We have to make sure that it [higher shipments] continues. As we head into whatever the Omicron situation is going to be, there is risk that the global supply is again going to revert to high-income countries hoarding vaccines as they seek to protect their ability to inoculate their citizens.”

Aljazeera

Director of the Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals Department at the World Health Organization

09 Dec 2021 3 3

Mike Ryan

Inserted 2 years ago

“Data indicates the variant is efficiently transmitting, and probably more efficiently transmitting even than the Delta variant. That does not mean that the virus is unstoppable. But it means the virus is more efficient at transmitting between human beings. And, therefore, we have to redouble our efforts to break those chains of transmission to protect ourselves to protect others.”

Aljazeera

Head of WHO’s emergencies programme

08 Dec 2021 6 2

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Inserted 2 years ago

“Emerging data from South Africa suggests increased risk of reinfection with Omicron. There is also some evidence that Omicron causes milder disease than Delta.”

Aljazeera

Director-General of the World Health Organization

08 Dec 2021 5 2

Albert Bourla

Inserted 2 years ago

“Although two doses of the vaccine may still offer protection against severe disease caused by the Omicron strain, it's clear from these preliminary data that protection is maximised with a third dose of our vaccine. Ensuring as many people as possible are fully vaccinated with the first two dose series and a booster remains the best course of action to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”

Aljazeera

Pfizer chairman and chief executive

08 Dec 2021 6 3

Maria Van Kerkhove

Inserted 2 years ago

“Even if we have a large number of cases that are mild, some of those individuals will need hospitalisations. They will need to go into ICU and some people will die… We don't want to see that happen on top of an already difficult situation with Delta circulating globally.”

Aljazeera

World Health Organization (WHO) epidemiologist

05 Dec 2021 4 2

Anthony Fauci

Inserted 2 years ago

“Though it's too early to really make any definitive statements about it, thus far it does not look like there's a great degree of severity to it. Thus far, the signals are a bit encouraging. But we have really got to be careful before we make any determinations that it is less severe, or it really doesn't cause any severe illness, comparable to Delta.”

Aljazeera

Top US infectious disease expert

05 Dec 2021 3 2

Soumya Swaminathan

Inserted 2 years ago

“How worried should we be? We need to be prepared and cautious, not panic, because we're in a different situation to a year ago. Delta accounts for 99 percent of infections around the world. This variant would have to be more transmissible to outcompete and become dominant worldwide. It is possible, but it's not possible to predict. We need to wait, let's hope it's milder … but it's too early to conclude about the variant as a whole.”

Aljazeera

World Health Organization’s (WHO) chief scientist

03 Dec 2021 6 2

António Guterres

Inserted 2 years ago

“With a virus that is truly borderless, travel restrictions that isolate any one country or region are not only deeply unfair and punitive - they are ineffective.”

Aljazeera

Secretary-general of the United Nations

01 Dec 2021 6 2

Laurence Boone

Inserted 2 years ago

“One [scenario] is where it creates more supply disruptions and prolongs higher inflation for longer. And one where it is more severe and we have to use more mobility restrictions, in which case demand could decline and inflation could actually recede much faster than what we have here. If the Omicron turned out to be more evil than other variants governments could be called upon to step in to cushion the blow for businesses and households. That could be a scenario where we need more fiscal support at this stage.”

Theguardian

OECD Chief Economist

01 Dec 2021 8 3

Stephane Bancel

Inserted 2 years ago

“There is no world, I think, where [the effectiveness] is the same level … we had with Delta. I think it's going to be a material drop. I just don't know how much because we need to wait for the data. But all the scientists I've talked to … are like 'this is not going to be good'.”

Aljazeera

Chief Executive Officer of Moderna Therapeutics

30 Nov 2021 4 3

Ugur Sahin

Inserted 2 years ago

“Our message is: Don't freak out, the plan remains the same: Speed up the administration of a third booster shot. Our belief [that the vaccines work against Omicron] is rooted in science: If a virus achieves immune escape, it achieves it against antibodies, but there is the second level of immune response that protects from severe disease-the T-cells.”

Aljazeera

Chief executive of Germany’s BioNTech

30 Nov 2021 6 4

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Inserted 2 years ago

“I well understand the concern of all countries to protect their citizens against a variant that we don't yet fully understand. But I am equally concerned that several member states are introducing blunt, blanket measures that are not evidence-based or effective on their own, and which will only worsen inequities.”

Nytimes

Director-General of the World Health Organization

30 Nov 2021 3 3

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Covid-19 - The new variant Omicron

“People are sick of the pandemic and God knows I am, but unless we can get some urgency to compel our leaders to take action, I really see 2022 being a lot of more of the same that we saw in 2021.”

“We have to make sure that it [higher shipments] continues. As we head into whatever the Omicron situation is going to be, there is risk that the global supply is again going to revert to high-income countries hoarding vaccines as they seek to protect their ability to inoculate their citizens.”

“Emerging data from South Africa suggests increased risk of reinfection with Omicron. There is also some evidence that Omicron causes milder disease than Delta.”

“Even if we have a large number of cases that are mild, some of those individuals will need hospitalisations. They will need to go into ICU and some people will die… We don't want to see that happen on top of an already difficult situation with Delta circulating globally.”

“With a virus that is truly borderless, travel restrictions that isolate any one country or region are not only deeply unfair and punitive - they are ineffective.”

“There is no world, I think, where [the effectiveness] is the same level … we had with Delta. I think it's going to be a material drop. I just don't know how much because we need to wait for the data. But all the scientists I've talked to … are like 'this is not going to be good'.”

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