Stopping the Variants

‘New variants’ could still emerge

In driving home his ask, Tedros of the World Health Organization warns that the longer the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic drags on, the more chances for new variants like Omicron to emerge.

Omicron, which was discovered in late November by South African scientists, is spreading across the world and driving up infections in both the vaccinated and unvaccinated, the WHO has warned.

“It is possible that new variants could evade our countermeasures and become fully resistant to current vaccines or past infection, necessitating vaccine adaptations,” Tedros said.

The more people we vaccinate the more we reduce the chance of variants and the chance of breakthrough variants for those who are vaccinated.