Posted on 01/06/2022 10:28:39 PM PST by SeekAndFind
As millions more people test positive for COVID-19 amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, the World Health Organization (WHO) cautioned that it was “wishful thinking” to believe that the latest variant of concern would be the last to emerge in the pandemic, or work as one that could take the world to a significant level of protection against the virus.
WHO Health Emergencies Program Executive Director Dr. Michael Ryan said in a press conference on Thursday night, January 6, that with billions still unvaccinated worldwide, “there is still plenty opportunity for this virus to spread and to generate new variants.”
“I think it’s wishful thinking, quite frankly, at this point,” he said of the thinking of some that Omicron would be the last variant. “We saw with very high levels of transmission of previous variants and very high levels of seroprevalence, how Omicron was able to come in and exploit the immunity gaps that existed, and do exist, around the world.”
Soaring caseloads reported across several countries in recent weeks have renewed discussion on whether Omicron could lead nations to herd immunity – the point at which a population gains immunity from a virus by either prior infection or vaccination. Because of its hypertransmissibility and the variant appearing to be less severe compared to others such as Delta, some scientists suggested that it could offer hope that the virus was losing its power.
In the Philippines, Octa Research fellow Nicanor Austriaco, a molecular biologist, likened Omicron to a “blessing” and the “beginning of the end of the pandemic” owing to these factors. Citing a study where patients infected with Omicron appeared to gain antibodies that protected them against COVID-19 and its variants, Austriaco had even likened Omicron to a “natural vaccine.”
But with infections and transmission hitting record-highs, and millions of unvaccinated individuals remaining as potential reservoirs for the virus, it can be difficult to say with certainty what the timetable would be for containing COVID-19, the WHO said.
“The virus is evolving and we are giving it plenty of opportunity to circulate and the more the virus circulates, the more opportunity it has to change. So unfortunately, it will not be the last variant you hear us discuss. It will not be the last variant of concern,” said WHO COVID-19 technical lead Maria Van Kerkhove.
“There is no inevitability that the next variant will be less severe or more severe. We just have to see what happens as this virus evolves,” she added.
Israel’s top health minister, Nachman Ash, had recently voiced a similar refrain on Omicron and herd immunity, with cases expected to reach record highs in the coming weeks. But Ash said, “The cost will be a great many infections.” He underscored vaccinations were still the best way forward.
“The numbers will have to be very high in order to reach herd immunity. This is possible but we don’t want to reach it by means of infections, we want it to happen as a result of many people vaccinating,” he said.
The downside to waiting for Omicron to continue spreading in hopes it provided significant levels of protection in a population is it could still lead to many deaths. While Omicron is less severe compared to variants like Delta, it was by no means “mild,” WHO Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus warned on Thursday night.
“Just like previous variants; Omicron is hospitalizing people and it is killing people,” he said.
With Delta still widely circulating, infections are likewise not guaranteed to be mild, said Benjamin Co, an infectious disease and clinical pharmacology specialist at the Asian Hospital and Medical Center and Cardinal Santos Medical Center.
“Even if you say it’s going to be ‘mild, it may be, but the virus will find a way to beat it being mild. Or even if you say it’s going to be mild, other people are going to get sick eventually,” Co told Rappler. Later, he added, “It’s true it might be a solution but natural herd immunity is a very dangerous game to play.”
What this means for the public as well as governments is that the best way forward is to still speed up and ensure widespread vaccinations while ensuring measures were taken to stem transmission of the virus.
“The big point is, the less this virus circulates, the less opportunity it has to change,” Kerkhove said.
As the world enters its third pandemic year, the consequences of widespread transmission has shown itself in the emergence of new variants. As long as transmission remaining significant, Co said, “I can’t fully say from an infectious disease point of view, say, ‘Okay, after Omicron we’ll never get anything anymore,’ with finality, because the virus will find a way to replicate itself again and here we go again.”
Ryan added: “I think it’s not premature for us to hope. We can hope for anything, we should hope for everything. But the reality is, we’re not doing enough yet globally to be able to say with any degree of certainty that we can avoid the emergence of new variants.”
They’re a communist organization that can’t be trusted.
Changing the definition of herd immunity and vaccines when this all started tells me everything I need to know about them.
I suppose jabs forever and ever, never ending jabs, makes perfect sense though. Jab and jab ‘til you drop!
WHO is worthless.
Period.
I am literally listening to Dr. Malone on JR podcast talking about the less severe symptoms of omicron being a potentially positive development (for natural immunity development). And right on queue comes the lying and fear mongering from the media. Big pharma needs their $’s.
The Contol Freaks won’t ever give up their new found powers. Got to keep the fear going! One World government hasn’t been finished yet.
Dr. Who? What did he get his degrees in, Logic and Puffery?
Has Dr M said that omicron gives good antibodies?
I haven’t seen that even mentioned anywhere.
The powers that be just hate the thought that they are going to lose their leverage to control the world through this alleged pandemic.
Early on they were telling us that the only way to stop this was herd immunity by doing exactly as they say.
Now they are fighting the very concept of herd immunity and natural immunity.
It’s not about us. It’s not about our health. It’s not about what’s best for us. It never has been and it never will be.
It’s only, ever, all about them and their insatiable lust for money, power, and control.
Fantastic interview.
There is a transcript available that I am going to try to print out and highlight the relevant parts.
‘Good News’: mRNA Scientist Dr. Robert Malone Says Omicron Looks Like Something Vaccinologist Would Design on Purpose
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4027275/posts
Just keepin’ the fear going.
Coronavirus PING!
Take it from someone who has ran lab tests for decades.. the test will only detect what and how much it is told too. The are basic technologies like luminometers, photometers, electrical impulses.
Also, the fist generations of aids testung does and still is problematic. So much so that they are usually considered presumptive until confirmed.
PCR tests.. not ever considered diagnostics with their high false pos rates even with multiple targets.
If the real problem is this- the same people that cooked up and released the original virus are still doing what. Trying to produce a vax, by doing what… gain of function or hypervirilizing.
For Dietrich appears to be back in the game.
If they can make natural immunity moot for cash or worse, for control. they will.
I’m still waiting for the 1918 “Spanish Flu” vaccine so I can safely leave my house.
WHO experts……..LOL, LOL, LOL WHO being claimed as experts what a joke!!!^
WHO needs to be labeled as a terrorist organization!
its a naturally dangerous game because they are not controlling it. you need more vaccinations
That right there is the big lie. Unvaccinated people are not the reservoirs, if everyone can still catch and transmit the virus. It does not matter if the vax symptoms are less severe, they too are actually a bigger reservoir for variants!
Liberally how the flu disappears every year. Some folks get vaxxed…. And it’s somewhat effective and other just get it and move on.
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