As the highly contagious Omicron has pushed new records globally, WHO Chief Scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan said that the vaccine still seems to be proven effective. Although the effectiveness of vaccines varies slightly between vaccines, most WHO emergency use list vaccines actually have very high protection rates against serious illness and death, at least before the delta variant.
Dr. Swaminathan emphasized that the Omicron variant is infecting vaccinated and unvaccinated people worldwide, and said that the vaccine still seems to be proven effective because despite the exponential growth in many countries, the severity of the disease has not soared to new levels. s level. Dr. Swaminathan wrote on Twitter: “As expected, T cell immunity is more resistant to #Omicron. This will protect us from serious diseases. If you have not been vaccinated, please get the vaccine.” Vaccine Or a previous infection with COVID-19 will trigger a human T cell response.
In explaining the factors of vaccine effectiveness against COVID-19, Swaminathan almost said at a WHO press conference on Wednesday that the effectiveness of vaccines varies slightly between vaccines, although most WHO emergency use list vaccines actually The above has a very high protection rate against serious illness and death at least before the delta variant.
She also said that biological factors also determine the effectiveness of the vaccine. “It includes age, underlying diseases, and we know and use all the variants to prove this, that is, the older you are, the more potential diseases and comorbidities, the more susceptible you are to contracting this disease,” she said.
When talking about the third factor that determines the effectiveness of vaccines, Swaminathan said: “It’s time for vaccination and weakening of immunity. We know that this has a certain meaning, but re-infection is harmful to infectivity and immunity. The impact of the virus has diminished. This is why we are seeing many breakthrough infections, especially Omicron, because Omicron does have the ability to overcome pre-existing immunity and requires higher levels of antibodies and protection.”
In addition, she said that now the evidence for Omicron has just emerged, and it is too early to draw conclusions, but all laboratory studies point to the reduction of neutralization ability, and clinically seen people who have been vaccinated have been infected. People in Omicron will still suffer breakthrough infections.
“This is why the numbers we see all over the world today are very high, because these infections occur in vaccinated and unvaccinated people. However, it turns out that vaccines still have a protective effect, because even though the numbers are increasing exponentially in many countries , The severity of this disease has not risen to a new level,” she added.
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