The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that "there is no reason" to doubt the effectiveness of currently available vaccines against corona in protecting against the "Omicron" mutant that was discovered in South Africa.
Michael Ryan, who is responsible for emergencies at the World Health Organization, said in an interview with AFP: "We have highly effective vaccines that have proven effective against all mutants so far, in terms of disease severity and hospitalization, and there is no reason to think that it will not be the case with Omicron".
"The general behavior (of the Omicron) that we have observed so far does not show any increase in risk.
“In fact, some places in South Africa are reporting milder symptoms compared to those caused by previous mutated versions of the virus," he added.
The researchers detected the Omicron mutant for the first time in South Africa and then spread to about 57 countries around the world.
And the WHO office in Europe stated that children in the age group between 5 and 14 years represent the most affected segment of the Coronavirus in the region.
The UN organization's regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, said that a mandatory vaccine should be "absolutely a last resort", noting that "Covid-19 deaths are still much lower than the previous peak."
He stated that "cases of infection and deaths from the Coronavirus have doubled in the past two months" in the region, which includes 53 countries and extends to Central Asia, stressing the constant threat from the "Delta" mutant, noting that "the 'Omicron' mutant represents so far 432 confirmed cases in 21 countries." in the region".
He added that the delta mutant is still prevalent across Europe and Central Asia, and we know that COVID-19 vaccines are still effective in reducing severe symptoms and deaths from it. But it is not yet clear how and whether the latest mutation of the virus of concern, Omicron, will be more transmissible, more or less dangerous."
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