Omicron variant more resistant to vaccines but causes less severe covid, major South African study concludes
Today at 4:14 a.m. EST
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Omicron appears to cause less severe illness than earlier variants of the coronavirus but is more resistant to the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine widely used in South Africa, according to the first major private study since omicron was first detected last month.
The study by Discovery Health, South Africa’s largest health insurer, of 211,000 positive coronavirus cases, of which 78,000 were attributed to omicron, showed that risk of hospital admissions among adults who contracted covid-19 was 29 percent lower than in the initial pandemic wave that emerged in March 2020.
However, the study found that the vaccine from U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German partner BioNTech provided just 33 percent protection against infection, much less than the level for other variants detected in the country so far. At the same time, the vaccine provided 70 percent protection in fully vaccinated individuals against severe complications that would require a patient to be hospitalized, the study found, calling that “very good protection.”
more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/12/14/south-africa-omicron-coronavirus/
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