it is more resistant to vaccines – breaking latest news

The difference of symptoms you can measure it. In detail. And it can be represented in a simple table (which can be consulted in the graph) that puts compared Omicron with previous variants. This is how the probability ratios of having (but above all not having) the main symptoms of Covid-19 if you are infected with the latest form of the virus. Hearing wheezing, for example, is less likely. Even more marked, in fact halved, the loss of smell and taste, on the other hand, extremely widespread at the beginning of the pandemic. But above all, if you look at the staircase from the other side, the decisive aspect occurs: a case of infected with Omicron is two and a half times as likely to be completely asymptomatic compared to those who had contracted the other, previous forms of the virus.

Here it is, the most in-depth “radiograph” of the variant that is fueling the new phase of the pandemic since the beginning of 2022. It is contained in the new study elaborated by the researchers of the Ats of Milanpublished just a few days ago by the magazine Frontiers in epidemiology. This is particularly innovative work in the specialist literature on Covid-19, of which there is only one other example in Norway.

Reassurance and alert

The work elaborated on Milan contains both the scientific assessment of an element already verified by common sense (the less severity of the disease), is an alert point, which concerns the lower protection strength of vaccines in relation to this variant.

The period that passes to arrive at a negative buffer, for example, with Omicron it is on average less than three days compared to previous manifestations of the virus. In addition to being less serious the disease, therefore, too recovery time is faster. Furthermore, the risk of ending up in hospital is significantly lower than with the old variants: both for the unvaccinated (minus 12 per cent) and for those vaccinated with three doses (minus 7 per cent). This, however, means that Omicron has a “greater resistance to vaccines“: the analysis has shown that those who are vaccinated with only one or two doses are less protected. And this, the researchers argue, should prompt us not to underestimate the potential mass effects of the current lineage of the virus in circulation (we have arrived at Omicron sub-variant 5), in particular because it is associated with avery high transmissibilitywhich Covid-19 had never had so far.

Omicron, Delta, Kappa

To better understand the evidence on vaccines, the scenario needs to be divided into two parts. Between not vaccinatedin the “field” which therefore allows comparisons to be made on people without any protection, Omicron shows its own remarkable way less gravity compared to the other variants (which in the study period were mainly Delta e Kappa). However, the picture changes if we examine the segment of the population which, on the other hand, should be protected in some way.

In the cases of the previous variants, the ATS doctors explain, “each level of vaccination (from the first, to the second, to the third dose, ndr) was significantly associated with a reduction in the chance of hospitalization, while among those infected with Omicron only those who have taken the third dose are more protected“. This is probably why health authorities are insisting on the need for a new call for the frail. With two unknowns: i vaccines studied on Omicron, which as such should be more effective. There is also the possibility, even if epidemiologists consider it remote, that it will be generated a future variant that causes a more serious disease: if it kept the very high contagiousness of Omicron it could have a strong impact.

The wait for the negative

The study was carried out by the Ats epidemiology unit working on 2,267 Milanese who between 2 December 2021 and 24 January 2022 they had a positive swab. It was the time when Omicron was supplanting the other variants, and therefore that month allowed researchers to work on a new field of study: with multiple forms of the virus circulating at the same time (Omicron was responsible for 43.8 percent of the infected under examination, Delta for 35.4 percent, Kappa for 16) it was possible to verify its effects and consequences at the same time, without several seasons, mutations, restrictions or other external elements could alter the comparison.

Also the times of “negativization” reveal the same aspect of vaccination efficacy. While the times to arrive at a positive swab for those infected with Omicron are generally three days shorter than the previous variants, “however, there are no differences in recovery times in relation to the vaccination status, an aspect that highlights another once a greater response to vaccines for previous variants ».

If you want to stay updated on news from Milan and Lombardy, subscribe for free to the Corriere Milano newsletter. It arrives every Saturday in your mailbox at 7am. That’s enough
click here.