Others note that earlier variants, such as Beta, also had mutations that rendered the vaccines less effective, but that those vaccines still helped prevent severe disease and death. Even if neutralizing antibodies induced by vaccines become less effective, other immune system components known as T cells and B cells will likely compensate, they said.
"Vaccination will likely still keep you out of the hospital," said John Wherry, director of the Penn Institute for Immunology in Philadelphia.
The first real-world studies of vaccine effectiveness against Omicron in the community are likely to take at least three to four weeks, as experts study rates of so-called "breakthrough" infections in people who are already inoculated, said Dr Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota.
Columbia's David Ho said the fact that Omicron is already spreading in the presence of Delta, "which outcompeted all the other variants, is worrisome."
"There are a lot of labs that are actively looking to make the Omicron virus and test its antibody sensitivity, and that is going to take a couple of weeks," Moore said.
David Ho, professor of microbiology and immunology at Columbia University in New York, believes Omicron will show a substantial degree of resistance, based on the location of its mutations in the virus's spike protein.
"The vaccine antibodies target three regions on the coronavirus spike, and Omicron has mutations in all three of those regions," Ho said. "We technical experts are much more worried than the public health experts because of what we know from the structural analysis" of Omicron.
Yes, a microbiologist I know is pretty worried about Omicron. This is why everyone needs to be vaccinated...and if they won't do it voluntarily, it's reaching the point where stronger measures will be needed. Denying medical claims for unvaccinated people that get Covid or have Covid-related medical problems would be a good start. Continuing to keep enabling this behavior is like giving a 2nd donated liver to an alcoholic that refuses to stop drinking.
The longer the virus keeps running around, the chances for mutations just keep increasing. This one hit the Powerball jackpot and got 3 for 3 on mutations. It should never have had the chance.
MAN you really scaring me off, where are you from? it´s totalitarism what you expressing