Omicron spreading and infecting vaccinated: WHO

Agencies | Geneva

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The omicron variant of the coronavirus is spreading faster than the Delta variant and is causing infections in people already vaccinated or who have recovered from the COVID-19 disease, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday.

“There is now consistent evidence that omicron is spreading significantly faster than the Delta variant,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news briefing for Geneva-based journalists, held at its new headquarters building.

“And it is more likely people vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 could be infected or re-infected,” Tedros said. WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said that the variant was successfully evading some immune responses, meaning that the booster programs being rolled out in many countries ought to be targeted toward people with weaker immune systems.

Omicron appears to be better at evading antibodies generated by some COVID-19 vaccines but there are other forms of immunity that may prevent infection.