Omicron variant, what danger? What the experts say, news from Italy

What is the danger of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus which in Italy has few cases compared to other countries? Is it more contagious but less lethal? The latest news and expert statements are shedding light, while further data is awaited. Good news also arrives on the vaccine front because three doses of Pfizer-BioNTech are able to neutralize Omicron of the coronavirus, the two pharmaceutical companies announced. Read also The Omicron variant “must be resized within certain limits, in the sense that we have to wait for more certain results” said Pierpaolo Sileri, Undersecretary of Health, who spoke to the microphones of the broadcast ‘L’Italia s’è desta’ on Radio Cusano Campus. “It has been said that it probably spreads more, maybe it is equally dangerous, but the real danger is that it can evade vaccines. At the moment it seems to be neutralized with three doses and if this is confirmed it would mean that we have to accelerate with the booster “emphasizes Sileri.” We have de-classified the Omicron variant as it should be, it has many mutations, but three doses cover it 100% and it is not excluded that even two doses. The vaccines are therefore not punctured even by Omicron – underlines to Adnkronos Salute Matteo Bassetti, director of the Clinic of infectious diseases at the Policlinico San Martino hospital in Genoa, taking stock of the situation – As regards the growth of infections, it is likely that the cases sustained by Omicron are less intense than in those supported by Delta. Proof of this is South Africa which is now full of cases from Omicron, but if we look at the data of September, when the latter variant was not there, on 110-120 thousand cases a There were 300 deaths, today there are 35 deaths. It is probably more contagious but less aggressive. Even if it were, then it hurts less and looks more like a cold and all in all it is not so bad “.” In Italy, however, we must focus on the Delta variant because there are few Omicron cases – adds Bassetti – I would hope that the latter would replace the Delta because it is less dangerous. But we still have 6 million unvaccinated with many 50-70s. These are often hospitalized and put us in difficulty. The Italian situation tells us that there are again the emergency rooms in difficulty because so many unvaccinated arrive. When a person arrives with a disease – he points out – that can be prevented by vaccination, there is great despair among the health professionals because these people end up in resuscitation. This, as a doctor, hurts me a lot “. On the Omicron variant” good news is coming: it is more contagious than the Delta but, even from the first data coming from South Africa, it is less lethal and the symptoms are modest “he explains to Adnkronos Salute Massimo Ciccozzi, head of the Medical Statistics and Epidemiology Unit of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the Campus Bio-Medico in Rome. “All the mutations we have seen on the ‘Spike’ protein tell us that this virus is taking the first steps towards a true adaptation to humans – adds Ciccozzi – and this is also good news. Everyone had said that Omicron could be a dangerous variant and now they have come back. From the first data, still not definitive, it seems that the vaccine also works. The ‘Italian’ cases of Omicron are vaccinated and are either fine or with few symptoms. “” We have discovered and are publishing it, scientific work has been accepted, that this variant has greater stability in the Spike protein. This – he observes – tells us that it infects better than the Delta, it is more contagious, but it does not increase lethality. An evolution that is triggered when a virus has to adapt to humans, as happened for the cold, the strategy is to be more contagious but less lethal. So it is clear that vaccination does not protect us from contagion but from the symptoms of the disease. My message – he concludes – is to be calm and serene but also to take the third dose if we have not yet done it “.” To date, the data tell us that in Europe “the presence of the Omicron variant” is sporadic, and that in Italy we are at a dozen isolations. And that no longer seems to be transmissible as it was initially thought, and is certainly less pathogenic, as announced yesterday by the WHO. Furthermore, the three doses of the anti-Covid vaccine, according to data provided by Pfizer, are protective “even against this variant.” All this leads us today to a conclusion – which obviously may change in the event of new data – namely that we should not worry about Omicron “, epidemiologist Donato Greco, member of the Technical Scientific Committee (CTS), said to Adnkronos Salute, adding:” Omicron is likely to spread in our country, but it is not, and in any case if it does we are protected with the three doses of vaccine “. Greco, epidemiologist with decades of experience behind him, on the front line starting from the cholera of ’73 in Naples to the current pandemic, explains:” I do not know viruses without variants, and regarding Covid they have been identified, in 2020 alone, 1500 mutations. It is clear that the single mutation is part of the life of the virus and does not bring important variations, and this happens only with the sum of the mutations. Omicron has 32 mutations in the Spike protein zone and for this reason it has been classified as ‘worrying’ by the WHO. “But the World Health Organization itself,” just yesterday reassured us “, concludes.