Soumya Swaminathan said that there are also biological factors that decide the effectiveness of a vaccine.
Geneva:
Emphasizing that the Omicron variant is infecting both vaccinated and unvaccinated people around the world, WHO Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan has said that it appears that vaccines are still proving effective because even though The numbers are increasing rapidly in many countries, but the severity of the disease has not reached new levels.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Ms. Swaminathan said, “As expected, T cell immunity is better against #Omicron. This will protect us from serious illness. If you haven’t, please get vaccinated.” Either vaccines or prior infection with COVID-19 trigger a human T cell response.
As expected, T cell immunity is holding up better against #omicron, It will save us from serious illness. If you haven’t, please get vaccinated! https://t.co/PK2gmVHIGG
— Soumya Swaminathan (@doctorsoumya) December 29, 2021
Elaborating on the factors responsible for the vaccine’s effectiveness against COVID-19, Ms Swaminathan said at a WHO press briefing on Wednesday that the vaccine’s effectiveness varies slightly between vaccines, although all WHO emergency uses Most of the vaccines on the list actually have very high rates. Protection against serious illness and death, at least until the Delta version.
She also said that there are biological factors that decide the effectiveness of a vaccine. “It includes age, underlying diseases and we know this with all variants and prove that the older you are, the underlying diseases and co-morbidities the more vulnerable you are to getting this disease,” she said.
Referring to the third factor that decides the effectiveness of a vaccine, Ms. Swaminathan said, “It is time for vaccination and immunity to decline and we know that there is some degree of meaning but there is no chance of infection against the re-infectious. And that’s why we’re seeing a lot of successful infections now especially with Omicron because Omicron has the ability to overcome pre-existing immunity, and require high levels of anti-bodies and protection. the wanted.”
Furthermore, she said that now the evidence on Omicron is just coming to the fore and it is still premature to draw definitive conclusions but all laboratory studies are pointing to a decrease in neutralization ability and this has also been observed clinically. that people who have been vaccinated, people who have had a previous infection, are still having a successful infection with Omicron.
“This is why the numbers we are seeing around the world today are so high because these infections are occurring in both vaccinated and unvaccinated people. However, it appears that vaccines are still proving to be protective. Because even though the numbers are rising rapidly, the severity of the disease has not risen to new levels in many countries.”
Ms Swaminathan said the need for critical care, which is not increasing proportionately, is a good sign, emphasizing the need for hospitalization and even ventilation within hospitalized people And it’s telling us that past immunity is either due to vaccines or in some cases is providing some protection against serious illness caused by natural infection by the virus.
“And that’s what we expected because immunity, immune responses are much more than neutralizing antibodies,” she said.
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