Fourth Covid jab may not be needed as Omicron could be final variant of concern – expert
Coronavirus: WHO on new variant with 'multiple mutations'
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The latest update from the Prime Minister and his Covid advisors, Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance showed a third vaccine is highly effective in preventing Omicron. Those who accept and then wait for their immunity to kick in could find it prevents severe disease up to 80 percent of the time. They may not need to advise a fourth, however, according to one expert, who told Express.co.uk the disease could soon peter out.
Dr Quinton Fivelman, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer at the London Medical Laboratory, said the “success” of Omicron could make another vaccine unnecessary.
Writing from South Africa, he revealed evidence from the country – where scientists first sequenced the variant – shows it is less severe than Delta as others have confirmed.
As it rapidly spreads around, he claimed, it is causing its own demise.
And the antibodies provided by Omicron extended to other variants, Dr Fivelman added.
He said: “Omicron proved so transmissible [in South Africa] that much of the population who were not previously jabbed have already caught and recovered from the Omicron variant.
“It looks very much as if cases have peaked and are already dropping here.
“The even better news is that the immune response of people infected with Omicron appears to increase protection against Delta more than fourfold.
“That means the ‘milder’ Omicron variant is rapidly displacing the less infectious but more severe Delta strain.”
While experts believe that, like all viruses, Omicron provides some natural immunity, it is fleeting.
Dr Luis Ostrosky, chief of infectious diseases at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, told Fortune the antibodies start declining within a “few months out”.
And there is little evidence available about how this would extend to other variants.
Dr Ostrosky said infection with Omicron wouldn’t “guarantee protection against future variants” either.
Vaccines provide more effective and longer-lasting protection, meaning immunised people experience a very different infection than unvaccinated people.
Although milder, Omicron is still causing hospitalisations, deaths, and unpleasant illness.
Dr Laolu Fayanju, the regional director for Ohio-based Oak Street Health, issued a terrifying warning for those yet to receive their vaccines.
Speaking to Time Magazine, she compared catching Covid without adequate coverage to playing Russian roulette “with an automatic handgun”.
Dr Fivelman claimed if the UK ends up walking a similar path to South Africa, only vulnerable people would need another booster.
He said: “If this pattern is repeated in the UK, then, rather than a rolling programme of fourth, fifth and sixth jabs, and so on into infinity, we may be able to focus the UK’s fourth booster plans only on those more at risk.”
Beyond the next vaccination, Dr Fivelman said Omicron could end up the last “variant of concern”.
He said while other variants may come, the disease may be on track to becoming endemic.
Dr Fivelman said: “We can’t assume that Omicron is going to be the final COVID-19 strain, but there are only so many times the virus can mutate before it reaches a peak.
“The hope is that Omicron may not be the final variant, but it might prove to be the final variant of concern.
“With luck, the virus will become endemic, like the flu, and will only slowly mutate over time.
“So, in the longer term, a seasonal booster tweaked to the latest mutations – much like the traditional flu vaccine programme – will be the likely strategy to help us co-exist with the virus in the future.”
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