A Thai virology expert says vaccination is still essential in the fight against the Covid pandemic, adding that the new Omicron variant seems to be causing less severe symptoms among both vaccinated and unvaccinated populations.
Virology expert Dr. Yong Poovorawan, head of the Center for Excellence in Clinical Virology at the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, has expressed his view on the new Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and what this new variant of concern would mean for the next stage of the pandemic.
In a Facebook post, Dr. Young shared information regarding this variant of concern, saying the new strain would be as contagious as the Delta variant, while noting that patients seem to exhibit milder symptoms, both in the vaccinated and unvaccinated populations. However, more data is needed to compare the rate of hospitalizations and deaths, as well as treatment outcomes.
Dr. Yong continued to say the detection of this virus using the molecular RT-PCR method continues to perform well, however, test manufacturers may need to consider implementing test procedures that focus on other parts rather than the N gene.
He said current vaccines and treatments available might need to be adapted to the Omicron variant, however, more studies are still needed. He also stressed that vaccinations are still necessary at this stage, despite the possibility that available vaccines might be less effective against this variant.
Dr. Yong also called for stringent travel restrictions and strict compliance with preventative measures laid out by health authorities, as well as encouraging genomic sequencing of more specimens, as a form of disease surveillance. (NNT)
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