What We Know – and Don’t -- About the Omicron COVID Variant

Health experts across the globe are raising concerns about the newly discovered COVID-19 variant, Omicron, which was first identified in South Africa. The country’s minister of health announced last week that the variant had already spread in different areas of the country.

The next day, the World Health Organization designated Omicron a “variant of concern.”

President Joe Biden echoed this statement at a news briefing today, but he stressed that the new variant is a “cause for concern, not a cause for panic.”

COVID-19 vaccine makers are looking into the vaccine’s protection against the new variant.

“The mutations in the Omicron variant are concerning, and for several days, we have been moving as fast as possible to execute our strategy to address this variant,” Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, said in a statement.

Pfizer says that data about its vaccine’s protection against Omicron should be released in the coming weeks.

A number of countries are making efforts to prevent the global spread of Omicron. The U.S. is just one of a number of countries that have placed new travel restrictions on South Africa and its neighboring countries.

What Do We Know About the Omicron Variant So Far?

There is a lot that we don’t know about Omicron, including whether it causes more severe illness than other variants, says Leana Wen, MD, an emergency doctor and public health professor at George Washington University.

But what we do know is that it is a variant with an unusually high number of mutations, or changes in the virus’s genetic material.

Early evidence also shows that the Omicron variant may spread easier than other COVID-19 variants, she says.

“That’s very concerning because Delta, which is the dominant variant here in the U.S. and around the world, is already extremely contagious. So, if this is even more contagious, it could displace the Delta variant,” says Wen.

Is the Omicron Variant in the US?

As of right now, no cases of the Omicron variant have been reported in the US.

Either way, you should stay calm, says William Schaffner, MD, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.

“Even if it were to be here in the United States, the dominant -- the 99% that is causing disease in your community today -- that strain is Delta,” he says.

“And we know the vaccines work against Delta.”

Will COVID-19 vaccines provide enough protection against the Omicron variant?

“We don’t know whether the large number of mutations renders the vaccines less effective against this variant,” says Wen.

“Although many scientists believe -- especially with a booster shot -- that it’s not going to render the vaccines ineffective.”

What are common symptoms of the Omicron variant?

We don’t have that information yet, says Wen.

With so much still unknown, what can I do right now to protect my family and I from the Omicron variant?

If you are still weighing whether you should get a COVID-19 shot, the Omicron variant is one major reason to get vaccinated as soon as possible, Wen says.

“That includes adolescents and children 5 to 11.”

This is also a great time to get your COVID-19 booster, according to Schaffner.

Booster shots raise your antibody levels, which offers you both longer protection and stronger immune response against COVID-19 variants, he says.

“I can’t tell you exactly what it [a booster shot] will do against Omicron, but there is likely to be, at the very least, partial protection,” Schaffer says.

“And partial protection is always better than no protection.”

What Should I Be Most Concerned About With the Omicron Variant?

Virus spread, serious illness, and vaccine effectiveness work hand in hand. Therefore, all three are concerning, Wen says.

“Let’s say that something is more transmissible, but it doesn’t cause more severe disease and the vaccines work very well against it. That’s not particularly concerning,” says Wen.

“Or, if something is not very contagious but it’s still more severe, it’s also not as concerning because it’s not going to displace Delta.”

“So, it really is a combination of these factors that could make this variant very worrisome.”

WHO= CHINESE COMMUNISTS running the operation, and FAKING the “health concern”.

Point of Fact which the Dutch have let us all know— so called and named by WHO “omicron” was detected in August in Holland... BEFORE it was detected in South Africa. So are the chi-coms targeting Afrikaaners or Boers? Interesting thought. This is a NOTHING “variant” of “a” coronavirus, NOT covid. There is also that.

Plandemic part 2 Fauci on all three major Sunday shows to tee up more of his horse crap.

Seriously though here’s what I think will happen — Omicron will likely evade vaccine efficacy, and as such, cause a quasi-aggressive policy response from governments across the globe. Those responses will likely include mobility restrictions, quarantine periods, and potentially even moderate lockdowns. That will negatively impact economic activity over the next few months.

However, such measures won’t last more than a few weeks, or months, and they will be met with notable resistance in many countries ( including ours ). Therefore, this is not a return to March 2020 – but rather, a temporary return to March 2021, when pretty much everything was open but consumers were a bit more cautious.

That’s all.

The net effect will be a temporary and very minor economic slowdown in the fourth quarter of 2021, followed by a resumption of the global economic recovery in early 2022.