It’s important to note that the intensity of symptoms in vaccinated people is far lower than in unvaccinated
People have just got over the Coronavirus pandemic or it seems so. However, a new threat named Omicron has emerged and not much is known about this variant. An unknown variant can precipitate fear or ignorance in equal measure. Therefore, it is rational to know exactly what Omicron and mutation is.
What is mutation? There are millions of viruses around us and they have existed on the Earth for millions of years. Most of the viruses do not cause any ailment and are benign.
Mutations cause undesirable changes in virus
Viruses need living cells to multiply and breed. The living cell could be humans, animal, plant or even microscopic bacteria. To propagate itself, viruses create exact copies of itself using the resources of the invaded cells. During the process of transcription, some anomaly can occur and this anomaly is known as mutation. Most of the mutations do not cause any harm but sometimes, it can cause undesirable changes in virus.
The Omicron virus has 50 mutations. However, 10 mutations have been seen in the alpha, beta, delta and lambda variant. Mutation can cause an increase in virility of the virus or could inactivate the effectiveness of the vaccines. Therefore, the WHO has labelled the Omicron variant as a mutation of concern and emphasized the need for deeper studies.
Omicron is the fifth virus of concern declared by the WHO
Is the Omicron really dangerous? Can it spread at a faster rate? Will it cause serious health complications? Will the vaccines administered to the population protect them from the new variant? The scientific community is still searching for answers to these questions.
Omicron is the fifth virus of concern to be declared by the WHO. At present, two new Omicron infections have been detected in the country. The precautions to be taken for the new variant of the virus are the same as before. Wear a mask, keep social distance, wash your hands regularly and take the two vaccines as recommended by WHO.
Severity of symptoms in vaccinated persons very less compared to the unvaccinated
It must be remembered that the severity of the symptoms in vaccinated persons as compared to an unvaccinated persons is very less. Therefore, it is very important that every adult must take the recommended two doses of the vaccine.
Omicron variant was first detected in South Africa and Botswana. Till now, the variant has been seen in more than 13 nations. It was reported that the variant was also detected in Nederland 11 days prior to the detection of the variant in South Africa. A major portion of the Nederland population has been vaccinated. Therefore, it can be assumed that the present vaccines are effective in reducing the severity of the latest variant of the virus.