As the Omicron variant of the coronavirus continues to spread throughout the world, one major question is how well the COVID-19 vaccines will hold up against it? Currently, we don’t have an answer to this.
But over the next few weeks, scientists should start releasing data from lab experiments and real-world studies.
These results will give us a better picture of whether Omicron can circumvent vaccine protection and if we will need to update our vaccines to fight this variant.
However, the data won’t all be released all at once — and much of the initial data will be from preprint studies or company press releases — so expect the picture about Omicron to come into focus slowly.
With Omicron, there are already signs that people who’ve already had a coronavirus infection may more easily develop reinfection.
South African researchers reported on Wednesday that real-world data from the country suggests the variant has a “substantial ability to evade immunity from prior infection.”
This kind of immune escape was not seen with the Beta and Delta variants during the country’s earlier surges.
However, South African researchers did not have information on the vaccination status of people with the Omicron variant, which limits what they can tell about the effectiveness of the vaccines.
“We… therefore cannot make any assessment of whether Omicron also evades vaccine-derived immunity,” study author Juliet Pulliam, PhD, who directs the South African Centre for Excellence in Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis at Stellenbosch University, said on Twitter.
The results were published on the preprint server medRxiv, so the study has not yet been peer reviewed. This is just one study, so it may not offer a complete picture of Omicron’s behavior.
Scientists will also look at the spread of the variant in other countries, which have different vaccination rates and public health measures in place.
In addition, they will try to control for other factors that can increase a person’s chance of acquiring or developing severe illness, such as employment, other medical conditions, and living situation.
