Anthony Fauci reassures everyone on the Omicron variant. “It is almost certainly no more serious than the Delta variant. According to some indications it could also be less serious. In any case it will take at least another couple of weeks in South Africa and then, as we have more infections in the rest of the world, it may take longer to see what its level of severity is “, the words of the American scientist to the AFP. . Medical adviser to US President Joe Biden has divided the knowledge and unknowns about Omicron into three main areas: transmissibility, how well it can escape immunity from previous infections and vaccines, and the severity of the disease.
The new variant, Fauci says, “is clearly highly transmissible, most likely more so than Delta, the current dominant global strain.” Accumulated epidemiological data around the world also indicate that reinfections are higher with Omicron. The laboratory experiments that tested the antibody potency of current vaccines against Omicron are expected to arrive in the “next few days, a week at the most. It is almost certainly no more severe than the Delta. There is some suggestion that it may even be less severe, because if looking at the statistics of South Africa, the ratio between the number of infections and the number of hospitalizations seems to be lower than that of Delta “.
Fauci stressed that it is important not to overestimate these data because the population taken into consideration is made up of young people and therefore are less likely to be hospitalized. “I think it will take another couple of weeks at least in South Africa to figure out the actual severity. A more transmissible virus that does not cause more serious illness and does not lead to a wave of hospitalizations and deaths is the best possible scenario. The worst case scenario. is that not only is it highly communicable, but it also causes serious illness and then we see another wave of infections that aren’t necessarily alleviated by the vaccine or people’s previous infections. I don’t think this worst case scenario will occur, but it won’t you never know ”concluded Fauci.
.