Omicron outbreak unprecedented, vaccines alone won’t help in controlling it: WHO
Amidst rising Omicron cases, there has been a demand to roll out booster doses, especially for those vaccinated early such as health and frontline workers. But the World Health Organization has warned that such programmes will repeat vaccine hoarding and worsen inequality for poorer countries.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Photo: who.int
With as many as 77 countries coping with the highly contagious Omicron variant of COVID19, World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated yesterday, on December 15, that the vaccines alone shall not help in containing the outbreak. He also warned that Omicron is spreading at a rate ‘not seen with any previous variant’.
“I need to be very clear: vaccines alone will not get any country out of this crisis. Countries can – and must – prevent the spread of Omicron with measures that work today,” the Director-General of the WHO, said during a media briefing.
“It’s not vaccines instead of masks. It’s not vaccines instead of distancing. It’s not vaccines instead of ventilation or hand hygiene. Do it all,” he suggested.
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“We’re concerned that people are dismissing Omicron as mild. Surely, we have learned by now that we underestimate this virus at our peril. Even if Omicron does cause less severe disease, the sheer number of cases could once again overwhelm unprepared health systems,” the WHO chief added.
The WHO chief informed that 77 countries have now reported cases of Omicron. “…The reality is that Omicron is probably in most countries, even if it hasn’t been detected yet,” he said.
Omicron, first reported from South Africa on November 24, was declared a variant of concern based on the observed mutations two days later on November 26, their predicted features of increased transmission and immune evasion, and preliminary evidence of detrimental change in COVID19 epidemiology, such as increased reinfections.
India reported the first case of Omicron variant on December 2 in Karnataka. In less than two weeks, the variant has spread to other states in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala in the country, taking the total cases of Omicron to 62.
‘Protect the least protected, not the most protected’
Amid the Omicron outbreak, there has been a popular demand to roll out booster doses, especially for those who were fully vaccinated early in India’s immunisation campaign, such as health and frontline workers.
The WHO noted that the emergence of Omicron has prompted some countries to roll out booster programmes for their entire adult populations, “even while we lack evidence for the effectiveness of boosters against this variant.”
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The public health body is concerned that such programmes will repeat the vaccine hoarding witnessed this year, and exacerbate inequity.
“WHO is not against boosters. We’re against inequity. Our main concern is to save lives, everywhere. Giving boosters to groups at low risk of severe disease or death simply endangers the lives of those at high risk who are still waiting for their primary doses because of supply constraints,” said Ghebreyesus.
“The priority in every country, and globally, must be to protect the least protected, not the most protected,” he added.
The public health body also pointed out the gap in rates of vaccination between countries. “Forty one countries have still not been able to vaccinate ten per cent of their populations, and ninety eight countries have not reached forty per cent,” said the director general of WHO.
“If we end inequity, we end the pandemic. If we allow inequity to continue, we allow the pandemic to continue,” he warned.
In India, at least 87 per cent of the eligible population has been administered the first dose of the COVID19 vaccine, and more than half of the eligible population is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.