MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th December, 2021) According to new data, effectiveness of existing vaccines is slightly decreasing amid the spread of the new COVID-19 Omicron variant across the globe, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday.
"Evolving evidence suggests a small decline in the effectiveness of vaccines against severe disease and death," Dr. Tedros said during a WHO briefing.
The WHO chief noted that 77 countries have already reported Omicron cases, adding that there is high probability that most of the countries already have the new COVID-19 variant, but have not yet detected the cases.
Different vaccine producers have already announced that they will provide data on the effectiveness of their vaccines against Omicron strain in the coming weeks.
On December 13, the director of Russia's Gamaleya Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, told Sputnik that the effectiveness of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against the Omicron strain will be tested within ten days.
Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said this month that his company expected to know within several weeks whether a new vaccine will be needed for the Omicron variant, and doses will likely be available by March.
Earlier in December, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the Omicron coronavirus variant accounts for most of the new COVID-19 cases in the majority of South African provinces. The Omicron strain was first identified in South Africa in late November. The WHO designated the strain as a variant of concern due to its high transmissibility rate.
