“We are now vaccinating against time,” the SPD health minister is certain in a tweet. The news ticker for the new Corona variant Omikron.
Berlin – In addition to virologists and epidemiologists, modelers are also concerned with the current pandemic *. One of them is Trevor Bedford, who works at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. On his list, of course, the new Corona mutation Omikron * – and he himself on Karl Lauterbach’s Twitter list.
So far, there is little reliable knowledge about Omikron, and the SPD * health expert had also warned against jumping to conclusions. On Saturday he thought of Bedford with a retweet. The biologist Bedford thinks it is conceivable that Omikron could circumvent the immunization against previous variants * – depending on the scenario – to a considerable extent. One speaks of an “escape variant” or immune escape variant.
Lauterbach commented on Bedford’s graphic with regard to the vaccination rate of less than 70 percent in Germany: “This is how it could work with Omikron. If 30 percent of the population were not vaccinated or inadequately vaccinated when Omikron came, there would be a dramatic increase in cases beyond what we have seen before. So we are now vaccinating against time. “
This is how it could work with Omicron. If 30% of the population were not or insufficiently vaccinated when Omicron came there would be a drastic increase in cases beyond what we have seen before. So we are now vaccinating against time. https://t.co/KGfYn9mvLs
– Karl Lauterbach (@Karl_Lauterbach) December 5, 2021
US modeler on Corona: Omikron also a risk for vaccinated people?
The base reproduction number R0, which Bedford mentions in his tweet, refers to the average number of people infected by an infected person. In an interview with the US news portal Vox , the scientist recently emphasized that the portability of Omikron is also a major factor. Assuming it turns out to be high, that would be a problem especially for the unvaccinated.
“However, it is also possible that Omikron has a low infectiousness, but a high immune escape.” That would then also be a risk for those who have been vaccinated. “Then Omikron-coordinated booster vaccinations * would be necessary.”
Lauterbach on Omikron: “Briefly break the delta wave”
Large manufacturers like Biontech * therefore want to modify their corona vaccines. “The proportion of reinfected people at Omikron is more than twice as high as with the Delta variant and is increasing,” Lauterbach tweeted at the weekend.
And: “It is good that the vaccines are being adapted. But the massive delta wave has to be broken in the short term. We already have the vaccines for it. “
Current figures on the Delta variant from Germany and England
The British health authority announced on Friday (December 3rd) that so far more than half of the Omicron infections registered there concerned those who had been vaccinated: of the 22 so far confirmed infected, twelve had received at least two corona vaccinations.
However, it cannot be concluded from these figures that vaccinated people have a similarly high risk of becoming infected with Omikron as unvaccinated people. The more people in the population are vaccinated, the more people who are vaccinated are proportionally also among the infected – even if the percentage of those who are infected is very low.
Even among those infected with the currently dominant delta variant, the proportion of those who were vaccinated in the infections in Great Britain or Germany has meanwhile risen ever higher – because the majority of people in these countries are vaccinated. In both countries, almost 70 percent of people have received at least two doses of the vaccine. (frs with material from dpa and AFP) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
