A government advertisement on a London bus station encourages people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus spreads globally, on December 28, 2021.
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People with omicron infections are less likely to require hospital treatment than patients with delta, according to a large study released Friday by British health authorities.
The latest data from the UK’s Health Security Agency shows that the risk of hospitalization for people with omicrons is around a third of the risk posed by the delta variant. The study analyzed more than 528,000 omicron cases and 573,000 delta cases between 22 November and 26 December in the UK.
However, Chief Medical Adviser Susan Hopkins warned that it is still too early to draw definitive conclusions about the severity of illness caused by omicrons.
Hopkins refers to the UK’s National Health Service: “The increased transmission of omicrons and increased cases in the population over 60 in the UK means that it is more likely that there will be significant pressure on the population. with the NHS in the coming weeks,” Hopkins said.
The World Health Organization on Wednesday also warned that it is too early to conclude omicrons are milder than past Covid variants. Dr Abdi Mahamud, WHO’s incident manager for Covid, said omicrons have mostly infected younger people, who often develop less severe disease.
“We all want this disease to be milder, but the population it has affected so far is younger,” Mahamud told a news conference in Geneva.
New British research also shows that the Covid vaccine reduces the risk of omicron hospitalizations across the board, although the booster dose provides the highest level of protection. The latest data add to the growing body of evidence demonstrating that although vaccines have been affected by omicrons, they still provide a significant level of protection compared to unvaccinated individuals.
One dose of the vaccine was 52% effective at preventing hospitalizations from the omicron variant, while two doses were 72% effective, according to the study. However, after 25 weeks, these two doses attenuated and were 52% effective in preventing hospitalization.
The booster dose significantly increased protection and was 88% effective at preventing hospitalization two weeks after injection, the study adds.
The UK Health Security Agency concluded in the report: “Protection against hospitalization from the vaccine is good against the omicron variant.
However, the agency found current vaccines were less effective at preventing symptomatic infections from the omicron than the delta variant. The AstraZeneca vaccine, approved in the UK but not in the US, did not provide protection against symptomatic infections caused by omicrons 20 weeks after the second dose.
Vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, the most widely used shots in the US, are only about 10% effective at preventing symptomatic infection with omicrons 20 weeks after the second dose. However, the booster dose increases protection and is up to 75% effective in preventing infection two to four weeks after the third shot. The boosters, however, weaken after about 10 weeks, providing 40 to 50 percent protection against symptomatic infections, the study said.
UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid said unvaccinated people are eight times more likely to go to hospital from Covid.
