Covid Italia, Gismondo: “Omicron 2 positive for the end of the pandemic”

The “Omicron 2” sub-variant of the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus “is supplanting Omicron 1 and appears to be more contagious” than its ‘big sister’. “But this could even be a positive factor, because we know from history that pandemics ended when most of the population had contact with the virus.” Maria Rita Gismondo, director of the Laboratory of clinical microbiology, virology and bio-emergency diagnostics of the Sacco hospital in Milan, underlines this to Adnkronos Salute. “Without going too far in the forecasts”, the expert believes that with Omicron 2 “we can expect a significant increase in positive cases, but not a problem in terms of disease severity and hospitalizations”. Above all because “at the moment the efficacy of vaccines does not appear to be compromised – highlights the microbiologist – Omicron 2 is absolutely similar to Omicron 1 and fails to ‘pierce’ the current vaccines” in their crucial role as an effective shield against severe forms of Covid- 19, hospitalization and death.