The world this week: Covid-19, Omicron, and vaccines
New Covid-19 variant Omicron has turned the world on its head, prompting many travel bans, and fast-tracking restrictions on the unvaccinated in various countries.
South Africa and the discovery of Omicron
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation on Sunday (November 28) on the recently discovered Covid-19 variant, Omicron.
Ramaphosa said, “The early identification of this variant is a result of the excellent work done by our scientists in South Africa.”
In the wake of this discovery, many countries imposed a travel ban on South Africa, despite the World Health Organisation (WHO) saying that ‘blanket travel bans will not prevent the international spread, and they place a heavy burden on lives and livelihoods’.
Ramaphosa expressed his disappointment in nations irrationally imposing travel bans on the country.
“We are deeply disappointed by the decision of several countries to prohibit travel from a number of Southern African countries, following the identification of the Omicron variant.
“This is a clear and completely unjustified departure from the commitment that many of these countries made at the meeting of G20 countries in Rome last month.”
Mike Ryan, the WHO’s emergency director, stated that these travel restrictions would not prevent the variant’s spread.
“The idea [that] you can just put a hermetic seal on some countries is not possible. I can’t see the logic from an epidemiological or public health perspective.”
New evidence suggests that Omicron was present in other parts of the world, such as Nigeria and The Netherlands, weeks before South Africa identified it.
Dutch health officials said they had found Omicron in samples taken on November 19, suggesting the variant has been in Europe for the past couple of weeks.
“It is not clear yet whether these people have visited Southern Africa,” the Dutch National Institute for Public Health said in a statement.
Vaccination in the fight against Covid-19
President Ramaphosa re-iterated that one of the best ways to fight Covid-19 is by getting vaccinated.
“Since the first Covid-19 vaccines became available late last year, we have seen how vaccines have dramatically reduced severe illness, hospitalisation and death in South Africa and across the world.”
He added, “It is by far the most extensive health intervention undertaken in this country in such a short period of time; 41% of the adult population has received at least one vaccine dose, and 35.6% of adult South Africans are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.”
WATCH: The head of the South African Medical Association chats to journalist Izak du Plessis about the new Covid-19 variant, Omicron.
Europe: Restrictions on unvaccinated
Austria became the first Western country to make vaccines mandatory, while Greece said it would make jabs obligatory for those over the age of 60.
Germany will also impose extra restrictions on social contact for unvaccinated people, which would limit people in many spheres of public life.
Outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel described the far-reaching measures as an act of ‘national solidarity’.
Germany announced a series of tough new restrictions targeting people who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19, outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel announced Thursday, the latest country to crackdown on vaccine holdouts. pic.twitter.com/0YOJqwIaDm
— Forbes (@Forbes) December 2, 2021
WHO on booster jabs
Mike Ryan of the WHO has stated that there is no evidence that booster shots would provide greater protection against Covid-19, but said everyone should rather be focusing on protecting those who are not vaccinated.
“Right now, there is no evidence that I’m aware of that would suggest that boosting the entire population would necessarily provide any greater protection for otherwise healthy individuals against hospitalisation and death.”
Meanwhile, the CEO of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, has stated that annual vaccinations against Covid-19 would significantly increase population immunity.
“Based on everything I have seen so far, I would say that annual vaccinations… are likely to be needed to maintain a very robust and very high level of protection.”
This as the company is already working on a vaccine against the Omicron variant.
Face masks make no difference to infection rates – Oxford professor
Professor Jim Naismith, director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute and Professor of Structural Biology at the University of Oxford, claims that the wearing of masks makes no significant difference to curbing the spread of the virus.
He compares the governments of both Scotland and England. In July, England lifted its mask mandate, while neighbouring Scotland continued to enforce it.
Since then, both nations have had similar infection trajectories.
“The ONS [Office for National Statistics] survey results on prevalence show that the Scottish and English approach to masking, although formally different since July, has made no meaningful difference to Delta.”
However, Naismith encourages people to get vaccinated against Covid-19 and to ensure spaces are adequately ventilated.
expert reaction to six cases of the Omicron variant being detected in Scotland
