Fighting the Covid-19 pandemic with booster doses is not a viable strategy, experts from the World Health Organization warned on Tuesday, January 11, also calling for vaccines that better prevent transmission.
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“A vaccination strategy based on repeated boosters“of the first vaccines”unlikely to be appropriate or viable“, Indicates in a press release this group of experts in charge of supervising vaccines against the coronavirus. Also, these specialists considerthat vaccines against Covid-19 with a high impact in terms of transmission and prevention of infection, in addition to preventing severe forms of the disease and death, are necessary and must be developed“.
“Update the composition of current anti-Covid vaccines”
“Until such vaccines become available, and as the SARS-CoV-2 virus evolves, it may be necessary to update the composition of current Covid vaccines, to ensure that ‘(they) continue to provide WHO recommended levels of protection against infection and diseasecaused by the variants, including Omicron, believes the panel of experts. Just over six weeks after its identification in South Africa, data from several countries converge on two points: Omicron – which falls into the WHO variant category of concern – is transmitted much faster than the previously dominant variant, Delta, and appears to cause milder forms of the disease overall.
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Important point: we do not know if this apparently less seriousness comes from the intrinsic characteristics of the variant, or if it is linked to the fact that it strikes populations already partially immunized, by the vaccine or a previous infection. However, Omicron is progressing rapidly in many countries and the cases are doubling every two or three days, something never seen with the previous variants. Omicron’s mutations appear to allow it to reduce antibody immunity against the virus. Consequence: it can probably infect a large number of vaccinated people, and reinfect people previously infected with the virus.
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