CoronavirusA woman receives an AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine in Abuja, Nigeria, on Nov 19, 2021. Gbemiga Olamikan / AP, File
By MARIA CHENG and LORI HINNANT, Associated Press
LONDON (AP) The emergence of the new omicron variant and the worlds desperate and likely futile attempts to keep it at bay are reminders of what scientists have warned for months: The coronavirus will thrive as long as vast parts of the world lack vaccines.
The hoarding of limited COVID-19 shots by rich countries creating virtual vaccine deserts in many poorer ones doesnt just mean risk for the parts of the world seeing shortages; it threatens the entire globe.
Thats because the more the disease spreads among unvaccinated populations, the more possibilities it has to mutate and potentially become more dangerous, prolonging the pandemic for everyone.
The virus is a ruthless opportunist, and the inequity that has characterized the global response has now come home to roost, said Dr. Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI, one of the groups behind the U.N.-backed COVAX shot-sharing initiative.
Perhaps nowhere is the inequality more evident than in Africa, where under 7% of the population is vaccinated. South African scientists alerted the World Health Organization to the new omicron variant last week, though it may never be clear where it first originated. Researchers are now rushing to determine whether it is more infectious or able to evade current vaccines.
COVAX was supposed to avoid such inequality but instead the initiative is woefully short of shots and has already abandoned its initial goal of 2 billion doses.
Even to reach its scaled-back target of distributing 1.4 billion doses by the end of 2021, it must ship more than 25 million doses every day. Instead, it has averaged just over 4 million a day since the beginning of October, with some days dipping below 1 million, according to an Associated Press analysis of the shipments.
Shipments in recent days have ramped up, but nowhere near the amount needed.
Meanwhile, richer nations often have a glut of shots, and many are now offering boosters something the WHO has discouraged because every booster is essentially a dose that is not going to someone whos never even gotten their first shot. Despite the U.N. health agencys appeal to countries to declare a moratorium on booster shots until the end of the year, more than 60 countries are now administering them.
What it highlights are the continuing and fundamental risks to everyone associated with not seriously addressing the inequalities still at play globally in the fight against disease and poor health, said Dr. Osman Dar, director of the One Health Project at the Chatham House think tank.
Anna Marriott, health policy manager for Oxfam, said COVAX was limited from the outset after being pushed to the back of the vaccine queue by rich countries.
The COVAX team may be delivering as fast as they can, but they cant deliver vaccines they havent got, Marriott said.
Just 13% of vaccines COVAX contracted for and 12% of promised donations have actually been delivered, according to calculations by the International Monetary Fund from mid-November. About a third of the vaccines dispensed by COVAX have been donations, according to the vaccine alliance known as Gavi, and the initiative is now partly a clearinghouse for those donated doses, the very situation it was set up to avoid.
Last week, COVAX sent out a news release praising a European Union pledge to ship 100 million vaccines to Africa by the end of the year but only 1/20 of that amount was actually on planes.
Asked about the logistical challenges of distributing the other 94 million doses in only six weeks, Aurelia Nguyen, managing director of COVAX maintained that arrangements are in place to move a vast number of doses between now and the end of the year.
In a statement, she said the issue was ensuring that conditions are right on the ground for doses to be administered.
In minutes released ahead of an executive meeting this week, Gavi fretted that the perception that rich countries are dumping older or lesser vaccines on poor countries could undermine the whole project. On Monday, in a joint statement with WHO and the African Union among others, it admonished that the majority of the donations to date have been ad hoc, provided with little notice and short shelf lives.
Fury over dose dumping is already very real. In Malawi and South Sudan, tens of thousands of out-of-date doses were destroyed.
But its not just getting the vaccines into poorer countries thats a problem, according to some experts. COVAX is falling short on getting vaccines from the (airport) tarmac into peoples arms, said Dr. Angela Wakhweya, senior director for health equity and rights at CARE.
Authorities in Congo, for instance, returned their entire COVAX shipment this summer when they realized they would not be able to administer doses before they expired.
In a risk management report on COVAX, Gavi warned that poor absorption of vaccines by developing countries could lead to wastage of some doses. One problem is logistics just getting the doses in the right country at the right time. But just as important is the ability of often underfunded national health systems to distribute the shots where theyre most needed, along with syringes and other necessary gear. A third issue is persuading sometimes hesitant people to get the vaccines.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, however, has disputed distribution is a problem, saying the only obstacle to immunization in poor countries is supply.
Most COVAX doses distributed so far have been AstraZenecas vaccine, a shot that has yet to be authorized in the U.S. and whose botched rollout in Europe helped fuel anti-vaccine sentiment when the vaccine was linked to rare blood clots. The vaccines mostly used in the U.S. and much of Europe made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have only been available in tiny amounts via COVAX.
The U.S., which blocked vaccine sales overseas and exports of key ingredients for months, has donated 275 million doses in all, more than any other country, but the vast majority of the Biden administrations 1.1 billion pledge has a deadline of September 2022. The European Union, which has in general allowed vaccines manufactured in the bloc to be sold anywhere in the world, has actually delivered about a third of its 500 million promised doses.
Efforts to ramp up global production beyond a select group of manufacturers have stalled, which many activists and scientists blame on pharmaceutical companies opposition to waive intellectual property rights for the highly lucrative vaccines.
COVAXs failure to deliver anywhere close to enough vaccines has led some to wonder if its worth the effort to fight for the shots, given that the pandemic has so far not devastated Africa as many had initially feared and has often been the worst in richer nations. Thats a strategy few public health officials would endorse.
I think what Africa could do to really shame the world is to stop asking for vaccines, said Christian Happi, a Nigerian virologist who sat on the scientific advisory board of CEPI. The vaccines have not arrived, and anyways it may turn out that we dont need them as much as the West.
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GAITHERSBURG, Md. (WJZ/AP) Novavax, a vaccine manufacturer based in Gaithersburg, Maryland, has started developing a new COVID-19 vaccine that targets the genetic sequence of the Omicron variant.
The Omicron strain first discovered in South Africa has more than 50 mutations and has alarmed health officials worldwide.
It is not yet clear how effective the vaccines are against it. What were seeing is a number of mutations to the spike protein so I think thats why there is a widened level of concern, Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa told WJZ on Monday. Were still going to have to decipher what does that mean exactly. Were not sure yet if it makes this particular version more transmissible. Thats what scientists are really racing around the clock to find out.
The Novavax two-dose shot is made with lab-grown copies of the spike protein that coats the coronavirus. Thats very different than other widely used vaccines that deliver genetic instructions for the body to make its own spike protein. The company said its vaccine has shown efficacy against variants like Delta.
Experience with our vaccine has demonstrated that it can protect and neutralize against disease-causing variants found in the real world, including broad responses observed in our clinical trials against variants such as Delta, the company said in a statement. These data lead us to believe that our vaccine is likely to provide protection against new and emerging variants.
But the company said it will be ready to test a new treatment just for the Omicron variant.
Specifically in response to the emerging Omicron coronavirus variant, Novavax has already initiated development of a new recombinant spike protein based on the known genetic sequence of B.1.1.529 and will have it ready to begin testing and manufacturing within the next few weeks, the company said.
Novavax and Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. (SII) recently received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the vaccine inIndonesiaand thePhilippines, and the companies have filed for EUA in India and for Emergency Use Listing (EUL) with theWorld Health Organization(WHO).
Novavax also announced regulatory filings for its vaccine in theUnited Kingdom,Australia,New Zealand,Canada, theEuropean Unionand with theWHO. Additionally, Novavax and SK bioscience announced a Biologics License Application (BLA) submission to MFDS inSouth Korea.
Novavax expects to submit the complete package to the U.S. FDA by the end of the year.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. As medical researchers work to learn more about the Omicron variant of COVID-19, Alabama health officials are reminding residents of the importance of doing the basics when it comes to preventing the spread of the virus.
This includes getting vaccinated or getting a booster if eligible.Booster shots are being administered through the Huntsville Hospital vaccine clinic.
Huntsville Hospital President Tracy Doughty has three recommendations for people as the world learns more about the omicron variant.
One, is wear your mask, saidTracy Doughty,Huntsville Hospital President.
The second recommendation is get vaccinated. The third piece of advice he has is to get a booster if eligible.Those are the same suggestions being given by local infectious disease doctors.
Masking, distancing, hand hygiene and vaccination, said Dr. Ali Hassoun, Huntsville Hospital Infectious Disease Specialist.
A message also being echoed by the President of the United States.
Most Americans are fully vaccinated but not yet boosted. If youre 18 years or older and got fully vaccinated before June 1st, go get your booster shot today, said President Joe Biden during a speech on November 29.
Doughty says people dont have to look far in Huntsville to find a location to get a shot.
Any of the big box retail stores, our John Hunt Clinic, you can get the vaccine. If you havent got the booster, get that as well, Doughty explained.
The John Hunt Clinic is open Monday through Thursday. The clinic began offering boosters after the Pfizer dose was approved by the FDA.
If you look at just boosters were doing about 800 per week so about 200 a day, Doughty said.
And when it comes to supply, Doughty says he doesnt foresee any issues with vaccines at this point.
The state has been very good about securing allocations from the federal cache so there have been no issues receiving vaccines for children and or adults, he said.
Health leaders say the new variant has created even more uncertainty, so if people are eligible for a shot, they say dont wait to schedule that appointment.
As stated above, there are many places people can get a COVID-19 vaccine including Huntsville Hospital, Kroger, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, and Publix.
After two dozen countries have reported cases of the omicron variant, the European Union (EU) countries might be headed towards mandatory vaccination to fight the spread of COVID-19, according to head of EU commission.
Given only a third of the EU population is still unvaccinated, the head of EU commission Ursula von der Leyen said, "My personal position is I think it is understandable and appropriate to lead this discussion now."
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen makes a statement on camera regarding Brexit negotiations, after a phone call with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, at EU headquarters in Brussels, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020. (Julien Warnand)
The EU has increased travel restrictions since the variant was first reported and as cases continue to spike across Europe, according to a recent report.
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On November 26, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated the variant B.1.1.529 as a variant of concern, also called omicron, based on the evidence that omicron has several mutations that may increase its chance of transmissibility.
Closeup of Ruffled European Union Flag, European Union Flag Blowing in Wind. The EU is considering prohibiting Americans from traveling to its member countries as it begins to reopen its borders over coronavirus conditions in the United States.
But the WHO reiterated, its unclear if the omicron variant is indeed more transmissible or weather it causes more severe disease compared to other variants, including delta.
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD ON OMICRON: NO PROOF OF COVID-19 VACCINES WON'T PREVENT AGAINST SEVERE DISEASE
"Preliminary data suggests that there are increasing rates of hospitalization in South Africa, but this may be due to increasing overall numbers of people becoming infected, rather than a result of specific infection with omicron. There is currently no information to suggest that symptoms associated with omicron are different from those from other variants," according the Sunday press release.
"Initial reported infections were among university studentsyounger individuals who tend to have more mild diseasebut understanding the level of severity of the omicron variant will take days to several weeks."
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a press statement at EU headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020. The European Union's executive commission has proposed European Commission vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis to take over the post of EU trade commissioner following the resignation of Ireland's Phil Hogan. (Aris Oikonomou, Pool Photo via AP)
Some EU states are proactively taking steps towards mandatory vaccination, including Austria, which announced mandatory vaccinations from February next year, while Greece is levying fines against those who are unvaccinated over the age of 60 years old. France announced COVID-19 passes will be deactivated for those adults who have not received boosters, starting in mid January, according to the BBC report.
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"The most effective steps individuals can take to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus is to keep a physical distance of at least 1 meter from others; wear a well-fitting mask; open windows to improve ventilation; avoid poorly ventilated or crowded spaces; keep hands clean; cough or sneeze into a bent elbow or tissue; and get vaccinated when its their turn," according to the WHO press release.
New York Citys troubled jail system is facing more turmoil: the suspension of hundreds of corrections officers for failing to meet a Tuesday night deadline to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
The citys Department of Correction reported 77% of its uniformed staff had gotten at least one vaccine dose as of 5 p.m. Monday, the lowest of any city agency.
Corrections Department Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi said Wednesday morning that about 700 jail workers whove applied for religious or medical exemptions can continue to work while their cases are reviewed.
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That leaves just under 1,100 uniformed staff who are unvaccinated and could be facing suspension, but Schiraldi said some of those workers are on long-term leave for other reasons and he did not know precisely how many workers were suspended for failing to comply with the mandate.
The deadline for jail workers to be vaccinated was delayed a month because of existing staffing shortages.
Workers who havent applied for an exemption and who failed to show proof of vaccination by 5 p.m. Tuesday were to be placed on unpaid leave and surrender any city-issued firearms and protective gear, officials said.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, who already imposed similar mandates for other city workers, said he expects the vaccination rate to rise as workers begin missing paychecks or their requests for an exemption are denied.
"I expect those numbers to up in a very substantial way in the days ahead," de Blasio told reporters at a virtual news conference Wednesday.
In anticipation of the impending mandate, de Blasio on Monday issued an emergency executive order designed to beef up jail staffing by authorizing a switch to 12-hour shifts from the normal 8-hour tours.
The president of the union for jail guards balked at that move saying it was "reckless and misguided." The union said it would sue to block the mandate the same tactic a police union tried in late October as the vaccine requirement for its officers neared. The police union lost and the mandate went into effect as scheduled.
The promised suspensions threaten to add to the problems at the city's jails, which includes the notorious Rikers Island complex.(AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)
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Benny Boscio Jr., the president of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association, said staffing in the city's jails is as bad or worse than it was in October, when de Blasio announced jail workers would have extra time to meet the vaccine mandate.
Fewer than 100 of a promised 600 guards have been hired, Boscio said, and none of them have started working in the jails. Resignations and retirements have piled up, and guards are continuing to work round-the-clock shifts, with no time for meals or rest, Boscio said.
Suspending jail workers over the vaccine mandate could be deadly, the union chief warned.
"To move forward with placing what little staff we do have on leave tomorrow would be like pouring gasoline on a fire, which will have a catastrophic impact on the safety of our officers and the thousands of inmates in our custody," Boscio said Tuesday.
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The promised suspensions threaten to add to the problems at the city's jails, which includes the notorious Rikers Island complex. The jails, rotted by years of neglect, have spiraled out of control during the pandemic with staggering violence, self-harm and the deaths this year of at least 14 inmates the most since 2013.
The troubles have led to growing calls to overhaul or immediately close Rikers Island, which the city has said will be shuttered by 2027. The city on Tuesday announced it had awarded contracts for work on new jails in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx.
Last week, members of the House Oversight Committee, including New York Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, sent letters to New York City district attorneys expressing "grave concerns" that excessive bail amounts were putting too many people in jail.
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At the same time, staffing levels have dropped sharply during the pandemic. Uniformed personnel fell from a staff of 10,862 in 2017 to 8,388 in 2021. At one point in the summer, one-third of guards were out sick or medically unfit to work with inmates and an untold number of guards went AWOL, the city said.
The vaccine mandate for jail workers is taking effect as scientists are racing to learn more about the omicron variant, which was identified last week by researchers in South Africa. No cases have been detected in the United States, though de Blasio said he believes it's "very likely" there will eventually be cases reported in New York City.
De Blasio announced an additional vaccine mandate Monday for child care workers, reiterating his commitment to the mandates he's unveiled for almost the city's entire municipal workforce in recent months.
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The Department of Correction said it held town halls, called employees and gave them literature to encourage them to get vaccinated. It also offered a $500 bonus, parked a truck displaying a pro-vaccine message on a digital billboard at Rikers Island and recruited Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert, author Piper Kerman and former New York Mets player Mookie Wilson to tape messages for the department encouraging workers to get the shots.
The campaign has moved the needle, with Monday's 77% vaccination total among jail workers up from 72% a week earlier and 46% in late October when the mandate was announced. Still, at all other city agencies, at least at least 86% of workers have received at least one vaccine dose and most agencies were reporting vaccination rates above 90% as of Monday.
Its emergence has already led to travel restrictions, high-level government meetings and promises by vaccine makers to start working on strain-specific vaccines just in case.
But it has a long way to go to take over from Delta, the variant that dominates all over the world. And the long list of variants that at first frightened the world before falling off the map can be a reminder that viruses are unpredictable.
Here's a look at the named coronavirus variants.
WHO designates coronavirus variants as either variants of concern -- meaning they look dangerous enough to bear close scrutiny and continual updates -- or as variants of interest, or variants under monitoring. Only five currently meet the definition for variants of concern: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Omicron.
Omicron
The first sample of the Omicron or B.1.1.529 lineage was taken November 9, according to WHO. It got noticed because of a surge of cases in South Africa.
"This new variant, B.1.1.529 seems to spread very quick!" Tulio de Oliveira, director of South Africa's Center for Epidemic Response & Innovation, and a genetics researcher at Stellenbosch University, said on Twitter.
Also, genetic sequencing showed it carried a large number of troubling mutations on the spike protein -- the knoblike structure on the surface of the virus that it uses to grapple onto the cells it infects.
Some of those mutations were already recognized from other variants and were known to make them more dangerous, including one called E484K that can make the virus less recognizable to some antibodies -- immune system proteins that are a frontline defense against infection and that form the basis of monoclonal antibody treatments.
Like Delta, Omicron also carries a mutation called D614G, which appears to help the virus better attach to the cells it infects.
"The number of mutations per se does not mean that the new variant will cause any problems; although it may make it more likely to look different to the immune system," Dr. Peter English, former chair of the British Medical Association's Public Health Medicine Committee, said in a statement.
What worries scientists is the number of mutations affecting the spike protein. That's because most of the leading vaccines target the spike protein. Vaccines made by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and other companies all use just small pieces or genetic sequences of the virus and not whole virus, and all of them use bits of the spike protein to elicit immunity. So a change in the spike protein that made it less recognizable to immune system proteins and cells stimulated by a vaccine would be a problem.
So far, there's no evidence this has happened but there is no way of knowing by looking at the mutations alone. Researchers will have to wait and see if more breakthrough infections are caused by Omicron than by other variants.
The other fear is that the mutations might help make the virus less susceptible to monoclonal antibody treatments. However, WHO says it's unlikely these mutations would affect other Covid-19 treatments, including antiviral drugs in development and the steroid dexamethasone.
It takes an extra layer of testing above and beyond standard tests to detect infection to tell which variant of coronavirus has infected someone. Genetic sequencing must be conducted and that takes longer than a quick antigen test or a PCR test.
It's also too soon to tell whether Omicron causes more severe disease, although one doctor who treated some patients in South Africa told Reuters her patients had only mild symptoms. "The most predominant clinical complaint is severe fatigue for one or two days, with then the headache and the body aches and pain," Dr. Angelique Coetzee, a private practitioner and chair of the South African Medical Association, said.
Those factors may influence the rise of the variant in South Africa as opposed to countries where more people are vaccinated and fewer have immunocompromising conditions.
Physical barriers also will work against any mutant virus. These include masks, handwashing, physical distancing and good ventilation. "Much uncertain but we know what works vs. CoV-19: - improving indoor ventilation - quality masks/respirators - avoid indoor crowds - distancing - test, isolate, quarantine - vax + booster now for Delta," Dr. Jeffrey Duchin, health officer for Seattle & King County, tweeted Sunday.
While experts say they're watching closely, several have said they are not especially worried about Omicron just yet.
"I don't think we should panic," Robert Garry, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Tulane University School of Medicine, told CNN.
"The sky is not falling," Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor, told CNN. "We've not seen any evidence that Omicron causes any more severe disease than any other variants."
Delta
The Delta variant of coronavirus is now the dominant lineage in the US and much of the world. The Delta variant accounts for 99.9% of cases in the US, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Also known as B.1.617.2, it is clearly more transmissible than other variants, but it is still unclear if it causes more severe disease.
It quickly took over from the B.1.1.7, or Alpha, variant in most countries.
Delta also carries a cluster of mutations on the spike protein. It can also evade the immune system, which may mean people who have been infected once with an older variant may be more likely to catch it again. It also eludes the effects of a monoclonal antibody treatment called bamlanivimab, made by Eli Lilly and Company, but is vulnerable to the protection offered by other monoclonal antibody treatments.
Alpha
First identified as a variant of concern last December, the B.1.1.7 or Alpha variant of coronavirus was worrying public health officials last spring. It swept across England quickly and then out into the world, quickly becoming the dominant lineage in the United States. It has now been demoted to "Variant Being Monitored" by the CDC because of its low impact in the US.
It was shown to be at least 50% more transmissible than older lineages. It carries 23 mutations, including one called N501Y that increases transmission.
It's fully susceptible to monoclonal antibody treatments and vaccines.
Beta
First seen in South Africa, the B.1.351 or Beta variant has both the E484K mutation that is linked with immune escape and the N501Y mutation suspected of helping make many other variants more contagious. It has been shown to be 50% more transmissible than older strains and evades Lilly's dual monoclonal antibody treatment, but not others.
Blood tests and real-life use both suggest it can infect people who have recovered from coronavirus and also people who have been vaccinated against Covid-19.
Vaccine makers trying to get out ahead of the new variants by developing booster shots had focused on B.1.351, as it's the variant scientists most fear could elude vaccine protection. But partial escape doesn't mean full escape, and vaccines are still expected to protect people to some degree.
It was overtaken by Delta in South Africa and have never gained much of a foothold in the US, despite the worry it caused, and is now designated a Variant Being Monitored by the CDC.
Gamma
The P.1 or Gamma variant that swept Brazil also never gained much ground elsewhere and is also now a CDC Variant Being Monitored.
Gamma carries both the E484K and N501Y mutations, with more than 30 others. It has been demonstrated to evade the effects of Lilly's monoclonal antibody treatment but not one made by Regeneron. Blood tests show it might partly escape both natural and vaccine-elicited immune responses.
WHO Variants of Interest
Lambda: Lambda or C.37 was designated a WHO Variant of Interest in June. The CDC doesn't mention it.
Mu: Mu or B.1.621 caused a flurry of fear when it was declared a WHO Variant of Interest in August, but it soon fizzled out. It's now designated Variant Being Monitored by the CDC.
Variants Being Monitored by CDC
Epsilon: The B.1.427 and B.1.429 variants are usually lumped together and known as Epsilon. First seen in California, this one has the same L452R mutation carried by Delta, but not some of its other mutations and has not taken off in the way Delta has.
Iota: First seen in New York last November, the B.1.526 or Iota variant spread at first, accounting for as many as 9% of samples last April, but it's now virtually disappeared. It has what's called a 484 mutation that should help the virus attach more easily to the cells it infects and makes the virus less recognizable to the immune system.
Eta: First seen in the UK and Nigeria, Eta, also known as B.1.525, carries the E484K mutation. It has also virtually disappeared.
Zeta: Circulating in Brazil since last year, this variant, also known as P.2, also carries the E484K mutation and has not been found widely globally. It's almost disappeared in the US, according to the CDC.
There are no variants designated Nu or Xi. WHO decided "Nu" sounded too much like the English word "new" and Xi is a common last name.
UC San Diego scientists said Sunday night theyre hustling to find samples of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus to help in the worldwide effort to assess whether it is more transmissible and harmful than earlier versions of the virus.
Its possible that the new variant could be discovered this week in San Diego County through the genetic analysis that UC San Diego is doing on positive coronavirus tests, a campus official said.
The county health department and some hospitals also are conducting such testing.
Its only a matter of time and testing before we find it here, said Dr. Davey Smith, head of infectious diseases at UC San Diego, which was one of the first universities to broadly test students, faculty and staff for COVID-19.
UC San Diego scientists also helped to conduct COVID-19 vaccine trials on behalf of Moderna, Johnson & Johnson nd AstraZeneca, and it has been testing therapeutic drugs on patients.
Scripps Research also said late Sunday that it is geared up to evaluate Omicrons potential threat to public health.
Smith said scientists are just beginning to understand Omicron, but added, The vaccines we have now should work quite well against it. People should be getting vaccinated, and getting their boosters.
UC San Diego has about 8,500 international students, most of whom will resume the fall quarter on Monday. Some of the students traveled back to their home countries during the Thanksgiving break. The university hosts many students from overseas, including the United Kingdom, which has reported Omicron cases.
But campus officials say the school is likely to continue having a tiny infection rate because it will be screening all dorm students for the virus. UC San Diego also has been strongly enforcing social-distancing rules.
Before the start of the Thanksgiving holiday, the infection rate among students who access the campus was 0.22 percent.
But there is a lot of uneasiness about the new variant.
Were hampered by the fact that nothing is yet in the peer reviewed scientific literature, said Robert Chip Schooley, who leads UC San Diegos Return to Learn program.
Ive been in contact with a colleague from Hong Kong that I trust and respect more than anyone in virology. He has been working with the virus in his laboratory and has been observing it epidemiologically.
His take is that it is, indeed, highly contagious but that vaccinated people who become infected have relatively mild (breakthrough-like) symptoms.
Schooley said he believes the virus is more aggressive about shutting down the innate immune response than the Alpha and Delta variants, which he said will allow it to grow to much higher tiers during the pre-symptomatic phase. This, in turn, will result in higher transmissibility and (likely) more severe disease in the unvaccinated, he said
Schooley added, Were not currently planning on changing our policies vis--vis holiday travel but, as with other aspects of our adaptive response posture we will be monitoring the situation on a daily basis and modifying our approach as conditions dictate.
As nations severed air links from southern Africa amid fears of another global surge of the coronavirus, scientists scrambled on Sunday to gather data on the new Omicron variant, its capabilities and perhaps most important how effectively the current vaccines will protect against it.
The early findings are a mixed picture. The variant may be more transmissible and better able to evade the bodys immune responses, both to vaccination and to natural infection, than prior versions of the virus, experts said in interviews.
The vaccines may well continue to ward off severe illness and death, although booster doses may be needed to protect most people. Still, the makers of the two most effective vaccines, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, are preparing to reformulate their shots if necessary.
We really need to be vigilant about this new variant and preparing for it, said Jesse Bloom, an evolutionary biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
Probably in a few weeks, well have a better sense of how much this variant is spreading and how necessary it might be to push forward with a variant vaccine, Dr. Bloom said.
Even as scientists began vigorous scrutiny of the new variant, countries around the world curtailed travel to and from nations in southern Africa, where Omicron was first identified. Despite the restrictions, the virus has been found in a half-dozen European countries, including the United Kingdom, as well as Australia, Israel and Hong Kong.
Already, Omicron accounts for most of the 2,300 new daily cases in the province of Gauteng, South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Sunday. Nationally, new infections have more than tripled in the past week, and test positivity has increased to 9 percent from 2 percent.
Scientists have reacted more quickly to Omicron than to any other variant. In just 36 hours from the first signs of trouble in South Africa on Tuesday, researchers analyzed samples from 100 infected patients, collated the data and alerted the world, said Tulio de Oliveira, a geneticist at the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine in Durban.
Within an hour of the first alarm, scientists in South Africa also rushed to test coronavirus vaccines against the new variant. Now, dozens of teams worldwide including researchers at Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have joined the chase.
They wont know the results for two weeks, at the earliest. But the mutations that Omicron carries suggest that the vaccines most likely will be less effective, to some unknown degree, than they were against any previous variant.
Based on lots of work people have done on other variants and other mutations, we can be pretty confident these mutations are going to cause an appreciable drop in antibody neutralization, Dr. Bloom said, referring to the bodys ability to attack an invading virus.
South African doctors are seeing an increase in reinfections in people who already had a bout of Covid-19, suggesting that the variant can overcome natural immunity, said Dr. Richard Lessells, an infectious diseases physician at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Omicron has about 50 mutations, including more than 30 in the spike, a viral protein on its surface that the vaccines train the body to recognize and attack.
Some of these mutations have been seen before. Some were thought to have powered the Beta variants ability to sidestep vaccines, while others most likely turbocharged Deltas extreme contagiousness.
My best guess is that this combines both of those elements, Penny Moore, a virologist at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa, said of the new variant.
But Omicron also has 26 unique spike mutations, compared with 10 in Delta and six in Beta. Many of them seem likely to render the variant more difficult for the immune system to recognize and thwart.
There are many weve never studied before, but just looking at the location on the spike, they are in regions that we know are immuno-dominant, Dr. Moore said, referring to parts of the spike protein that interact with the bodys immune defenses.
Dr. Moores team is perhaps the furthest along in testing how well the vaccines hold up against Omicron. She and her colleagues are preparing to test blood from fully immunized people against a synthetic version of the Omicron variant.
Creating such a pseudovirus a viral stand-in that contains all of the mutations takes time, but results may be available in about 10 days.
To more closely mimic what people are likely to encounter, another team led by Alex Sigal, a virologist at the Africa Health Research Institute, is growing live Omicron, which will be tested against the blood of fully immunized people, as well as those who were previously infected.
Nov. 29, 2021, 9:49 a.m. ET
Those results may take longer but should provide a fuller picture of the vaccines performance, Dr. Sigal said.
If the vaccines prove to be much less potent against Omicron, they may need to be tweaked to enhance their effectiveness. Preparing for the worst, Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson are planning to test an artificial version of Omicron against their vaccines.
The mRNA vaccines in particular Modernas and Pfizer-BioNTechs were built with technology that should permit rapid modification. Pfizers scientists can adapt the current vaccine within six weeks and ship initial batches within 100 days in the event of an escape variant that eludes the immune system, said Jerica Pitts, a spokeswoman for Pfizer.
Modernas work began on Tuesday, immediately after its scientists learned of Omicron the fastest the company has ever responded to a variant, said Dr. Stephen Hoge, Modernas president.
Even without data on Omicrons spread, it was obvious the variant would be a formidable threat to vaccines, he said.
This thing is a Frankenstein mix of all of the greatest hits, Dr. Hoge said, referring to the variants many concerning mutations. It just triggered every one of our alarm bells.
Moderna could update its current vaccine in about two months and have clinical results in about three months if necessary, he said.
Both companies also plan to test whether booster shots will bolster the immune system enough to fend off the new variant. Boosters of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have been shown to raise antibody levels significantly.
But those antibodies may not be broadly effective against every iteration of the virus, and may not be enough to neutralize Omicron entirely, said Michel Nussenzweig, an immunologist at Rockefeller University in New York.
People who recover from Covid and then receive even one dose of a vaccine tend to produce a broader range of antibodies, capable of recognizing more versions of the virus, than do people who are only vaccinated.
Its clear that hybrid immunity, the kind that people get when they are both infected and vaccinated, is superior, and that is very, very likely to take care of this thing, too, Dr. Nussenzweig said.
Understand the Omicron Variant
Scientists are racingto learn more about the Covid variant. Heres the latest.
After two doses of vaccine, we did not see that. But were hoping that after three doses, maybe therell be some catching up, he said.
Dr. Nussenzweig and his colleagues are preparing to test Omicron against the mRNA vaccines, as well as the vaccines made by Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca. They hope to have results within a month.
Omicron-specific vaccines created in just weeks would be a miraculous feat. But the prospect of producing and distributing them raises daunting questions.
If new versions are required to protect people everywhere, companies should make them available to the African countries that most need them and can least afford them, Dr. de Oliveira said.
South Africa at least has managed to procure their own vaccines, he said. But poorer countries like Sudan, Mozambique, Eswatini and Lesotho will need low-cost options.
Pfizer did not respond to a question about low-cost vaccines for African nations. Dr. Hoge, of Moderna, said the company already had an agreement with the African Union to deliver 110 million doses at $3.50 per half dose of vaccine.
Dr. Hoge said he recognized that 110 million was less than 10 percent of Africas population. But, he noted, were also the smallest of all manufacturers out there, and so 10 percent hopefully is useful.
Despite the frustration that South African scientists have expressed about vaccine inequity and punishing travel restrictions, they have been inundated with requests for genetic sequences of Omicron from Italy, Germany, Australia and New Zealand, as well as labs in North America.
The more teams involved, the better, said Dr. Moore, who received about 50 requests just on Saturday. As the virus moves across the globe, it is likely to keep changing. Getting the right combination of mutations in itself is a moving target, she said.
Researchers everywhere want to avoid drawing conclusions prematurely, a mistake they made when the Beta variant surfaced. Preliminary tests of that variant took only one known mutation into account and underestimated its ability to evade the immune system, Dr. Moore recalled. (Fortunately, the variant also turned out to be less contagious.)
To get a full picture of the effectiveness of the vaccines against Omicron, scientists must look not just at antibody levels but also at immune cells that can recognize and destroy infected cells. Immune cells called T cells are crucial for preventing an infection from progressing to serious illness and death.
Some of Omicrons mutations occur in parts of the virus targeted by T cells, meaning the variant may be more difficult for T cells to recognize.
Already, a computer simulation has predicted that those mutations may alter about six of the hundreds of regions that T cells can recognize, said Wendy Burgers, an immunologist at the University of Cape Town.
That may not seem like much. But people make varying sets of T cells, so depending on which targets the mutations knock out, some people may barely be affected by Omicron and others may be left vulnerable.
Dr. Burgers is hoping to obtain blood from 50 people infected with the variant to gauge how the mutations will play out across a population. Once the samples are in hand, results will be available after probably a week of very late nights and analysis, she said.
Even if the vaccines hold up against Omicron, new versions will probably be needed at some point, and perhaps soon. The virus is acquiring mutations much faster than expected, Dr. Bloom said.
Seasonal influenza is the often cited example of a virus that mutates quickly, requiring regular updates to vaccines. But the coronavirus is at least comparable and possibly even faster than that, Dr. Bloom said. Theres always going to be new variants arising.
Lynsey Chutel contributed reporting from South Africa.
People line up to get on the Air France flight to Paris at OR Tambo's airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Friday. The United States, Israel and other European nations have already imposed travel restrictions on South Africa and other nations in the region. Jerome Delay/AP hide caption
People line up to get on the Air France flight to Paris at OR Tambo's airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Friday. The United States, Israel and other European nations have already imposed travel restrictions on South Africa and other nations in the region.
When the omicron variant of COVID-19 was first identified in South Africa, the country's scientists were quick to inform global health leaders of the new mutations they had found.
Though scientists have little information about the new variant and aren't certain where it originated, several countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union announced almost immediate travel bans from South Africa and other southern African nations.
As the week began, Japan followed suit with far more restrictive measures.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced Monday the decision to reestablish entry rules for foreign travelers to limit any potential spread of the omicron variant. This comes just weeks after the country reopened its borders on Nov. 8.
Kishida told reporters this step is a "temporary measure until information about the omicron variant becomes clear."
Israel also implemented a blanket ban to all foreigners Sunday night after initially establishing restrictions on travelers just from southern African countries. According to The Jerusalem Post, under this new policy anyone returning from any country vaccinated Israelis included will need to isolate for three days once in the country.
The restrictive measures around the world sparked outcry from some health officials and experts who caution that the bans are premature and could set a harmful precedent.
"There is very little utility of these kinds of bans," Saad Omer, director of the Yale Institute of Global Health, told NPR.
"Unfortunately, from what we know about the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 and the epidemiology of this variant, the horse has probably left the barn," Omer said, noting the high transmissibility of this coronavirus and its variants.
And even though the omicron variant has been reported in several other countries in Europe, Asia and North America, travel bans are largely being imposed on southern African countries.
One of the identified cases of the omicron variant in Belgium had no contact or travel with any nations in southern Africa, suggesting community spread could already be taking place.
"If the question is to prevent the variant from coming in, it really doesn't make sense to exempt countries where it has been identified and that has even more direct flights than southern Africa," Omer said.
Travel bans from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in economic and other consequences we're still seeing today.
A recent study from the journal Science shows that restricting international travel in the beginning stages of the COVID-19 pandemic did have some effect on delaying spread, but the researchers said restricting travel is only truly effective when paired with curbing the spread of infection through hand-washing, isolation and early detection.
Another study, in the Journal of Emergency Management, concluded that little evidence exists to prove that international travel bans are effective in controlling the spread of infectious disease, and such measures should only be taken if recommended by the World Health Organization. With the omicron variant, the WHO has already cautioned against imposing travel bans.
Introducing a travel ban can also give a false sense that the virus is being contained, researchers said, adding that such policies can also make it difficult to transport health care workers and other resources.
Additionally, the stigma of travel bans can exacerbate racism and xenophobia, according to Nicole Errett of the University of Washington, who was the lead author on the Journal of Emergency Management study.
Omer, of the Yale Institute of Global Health, has another concern about implementing travel bans during a public health crisis: It can dampen the commitment to scientific transparency.
When countries that are proactive about disclosing the circulation of a virus are hit with travel restrictions, he said, that undercuts the case for health officials to be forthcoming about what's happening in their countries.
"You don't want a situation where, a month from now, a country health minister ... gets a result of sequenced virus and they say, 'OK, if it is that widespread, it's going to come out anyways from some other country, why be the first one?' And that cycle starts," said Omer.
Addressing vaccine inequity around the world is the best way to stop these new variants from emerging, Omer said.
"If there are more transmission events going on with every hour, with every day, with every week, the likelihood of a variant emerging goes up," he said.
And one of the most effective ways to address inequity, Omer said, is to allow for all regions, low-income countries in particular, to produce their own vaccines.
It's too early to tell whether the omicron variant in particular will become a serious public health threat, Omer added, "but that doesn't mean that we are not playing with fire by by letting vaccine inequity continue."
Nov 29, 2021, 12:24pmUpdated 3h ago
By: Associated Press
Portuguese health authorities said Monday they have identified 13 cases of omicron, the new coronavirus variant believed to be more contagious, among team members of a professional soccer club.
The Ricardo Jorge National Health Institute said Monday that one of those who tested positive at the Lisbon-based Belenenses soccer club had recently traveled to South Africa, where the omicron variant was first identified.
The others, however, had not traveled to South Africa, indicating that this may be one of the very first cases of local transmission of the virus outside of southern Africa.
Those who have been in contact with the positive cases have been ordered to isolate, regardless of their vaccination status or their exposure to possible contagion, and will be regularly tested for COVID-19, the institute said.
As cases of a new coronavirus variant are confirmed around the world, Japan announced Monday that it will suspend entry of all foreign visitors, joining an increasing number of countries that are tightening their borders as fear spreads of yet another extension of pandemic suffering.
Japan, which has yet to detect any cases of the recently identified omicron variant, reimposed border controls that it eased earlier this month for short-term business visitors, foreign students and workers.
Despite the global worry, however, scientists cautioned that it's still unclear whether omicron is more dangerous than other versions of a virus that has killed more than 5 million people. Some countries are continuing with previous plans to loosen restrictions, with signs of reopening in Malaysia, Singapore and New Zealand.
We are taking the step as an emergency precaution to prevent a worst-case scenario in Japan, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said of the measure that begins Tuesday. Japan has kept its border closed to foreign tourists from all nations.
Kishida urged people to continue wearing masks and pursuing other basic anti-virus measures until further details of the new omicron variant are known.
Kishida, whose predecessor lost his job in part because of disappointment over his handling of the virus, was not alone in choosing an aggressive approach until details of what omicron can do emerge.
Israel decided to bar entry to foreigners, and Morocco said it would suspend all incoming flights for two weeks starting Monday - among the most drastic of the growing raft of travel curbs being imposed by nations around the world as they scrambled to slow the variants spread. Scientists in several places - from Hong Kong to Europe to North America - confirmed its presence.
On Monday, the Scottish government announced the discovery of six new cases of the omicron variant of coronavirus, taking the U.K. total to nine. It has asked public health authorities to undertake enhanced contact tracing in all cases. Over the weekend, British health authorities found three cases of the variant.
Others to report new cases over the weekend were the Netherlands, which has 13 confirmed cases, while Canada has found two.
In Malaysia, however, officials went ahead with the partial reopening of a bridge connecting it to the island city-state of Singapore. And New Zealand announced it will continue plans to reopen internally after months of shutdown, while also restricting travel from African nations.
The World Health Organization, noting that the variant has already been detected in many countries and that closing borders often has a limited effect, called for frontiers to remain open.
The variant was identified days ago by researchers in South Africa, and much about it is still unclear, including whether it is more contagious, more likely to cause serious illness or more able to evade the protection of vaccines.
Health officials in Australia's Northern Territory announced that the state confirmed its first case of omicron on Monday, a South African man who flew into Darwin last Thursday. Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt said the prime minister is convening the National Security Committee to review actions that could be taken over omicron.
In New South Wales, Premier Dominic Perrottet said Monday there could be a third omicron case in his state. Health authorities there announced Sunday that two travelers returning from South Africa had tested positive. They were asymptomatic and fully vaccinated. Arrivals from nine African countries are now required to quarantine in a hotel upon arrival.
New Zealand has restricted travel from nine southern African countries in response to the omicron threat, but Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she didnt anticipate any further restrictions.
And omicron hasnt changed New Zealands plans to ease restrictions in Auckland and move the nation into a new, more open phase of its pandemic response, Ardern said Monday. Bars, restaurants and gyms in Auckland can reopen from late Thursday, ending a coronavirus lockdown that began in August.
Weve come through the past two years of COVID in better shape than nearly anywhere in the world, Ardern said, pointing to low death rates, a growing economy and high vaccination rates.
Malaysians working in Singapore held joyful reunions with loved ones after returning to their homeland following the partial reopening of a land border that was shuttered for nearly two years because of the pandemic.
Buses ferried fully vaccinated passengers across the Causeway Bridge that connects the island of Singapore with the Malaysian peninsula. Strict measures included pre-departure and on-arrival COVID-19 tests.
Malaysias health minister tweeted that a COVID-19 case was detected during a screening, but didnt elaborate. The causeway was one of the worlds busiest land borders before the pandemic struck. Air travel also reopened with fewer restrictions, allowing anyone who is fully vaccinated to travel quarantine-free between the two countries.
Taiwan, which already has strict border entry controls, said its not planning to further tighten its COVID-19 border policies to protect against the omicron variant.
Taiwan requires a two-week quarantine on arrival. It also has restricted the issuing of visas and currently does not allow in foreigners, except those with residency permits and those who have special circumstances.
Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said officials are reserving rooms in government facilities for travelers from countries with reported omicron cases. The Central Epidemic Command Center listed six countries as high risk: South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, and Zimbabwe.
Taiwan is bracing for a surge of visitors ahead of the lunar new year, and has allowed those returning to complete the two-week quarantine partly at home. However, anyone arriving is still required to stick to the entire 14-day quarantine schedule and face fines if they break quarantine.
North Korea, which claims no virus cases and which has taken among the worlds harshest anti-virus measures, says its making all-out efforts to prevent omicron from entering the country. Many question its claim of being coronavirus-free. Since the start of the pandemic, North Korea has sealed off its international borders and jetted out diplomats.
Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health in the United States, meanwhile, said no data as yet suggest the new variant causes more serious illness than previous COVID-19 variants.
I do think its more contagious when you look at how rapidly it spread through multiple districts in South Africa. It has the earmarks therefore of being particularly likely to spread from one person to another. What we dont know is whether it can compete with delta, Collins said on CNNs State of the Union.
Collins echoed several experts in saying the news should make everyone redouble their efforts to use the tools the world already has, including vaccinations, booster shots and measures such as mask-wearing.
The U.S. is banning travel from South Africa and seven other southern African countries starting Monday. Its going to give us a period of time to enhance our preparedness, the United States top infectious diseases expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said of the ban on ABCs This Week.
Fauci says it will take approximately two more weeks to have more definitive information on the transmissibility, severity and other characteristics of omicron, according to a statement from the White House.
South Africas government responded angrily to the travel bans, which it said are akin to punishing South Africa for its advanced genomic sequencing and the ability to detect new variants quicker.
David Hui, a respiratory medicine expert and government adviser on the pandemic in Hong Kong, said the two people who tested positive there for the omicron variant had received the Pfizer vaccine and exhibited very mild symptoms, such as a sore throat.
Vaccines should work but there would be some reduction in effectiveness, he said.
