Omicron: here's what we know so far

A study in South Africa found that the Omicron variant causes more infections, but with a lower risk of life

The study, carried out on 211 thousand people, also recorded preliminary results of the protection obtained with two doses of the Pfizer vaccine against presumed cases of the new strain.

Omicron

A major study in South Africa concluded that the risk of reinfection during the fourth wave of COVID in the country is higher than in the previous ones and that the risk of hospitalization among infected adults is 29% lower than during the first wave, early last year.

The children appeared to have a 20% hazard of hospitalization with complications in the course of the fourth wave during the primary, no matter a completely low absolute occurrence.
Discovery Health, head of the study and the largest private health insurance administrator in South Africa, cautioned that the results should be considered preliminary.

It also determined that two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine appear to have provided 70% protection against COVID hospitalization in South Africa in recent weeks, as demonstrated by the real-world study on the potential impact of Ómicron, at a time when that the country is fighting a spike in infections related to the new variant.

Discovery's study was based on more than 211,000 positive COVID-19 test results between November 15 and December 7, of which about 78,000 were attributed to Ómicron.

The 78,000 results are not confirmed cases of Ómicron, which means that the study cannot draw conclusive conclusions about the variant classified as "worrisome" by the World Health Organization. However, South African scientists have confirmed some 550 Omicron sequences so far, with the variant accounting for 78% of the November sequences, more than the hitherto dominant delta variant.

Based on analysis by Discovery's actuarial and clinical research teams, and in collaboration with the South African Medical Research Council, the real-world study calculated that two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech offered 70% protection against hospitalization during the recent increase in cases and 33% protection against infection.
According to the study, this represents an 80% decrease in protection against infection. In turn, the previous efficacy reported against the Delta variant against hospitalizations was more than 90%.

Omicron

South Africa is using vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson in its COVID-19 immunization campaign, with more than 20 million doses of Pfizer administered so far.

Glenda Gray, president of the SAMRC, stated it became critical that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is regarded to provide good protection against serious contamination and hospitalization.

South Africa alerted the world to the life of Omicron past due ultimate month, elevating alarm that it can cause another surge in infections globally, and leading to the imposition of travel regulations in southern Africa. Since then, daily infections in South Africa have risen to about 20,000 in recent days.