The main danger of the omicron, and who is best protected from it

The Russian virologist called the “flip side” the absence of symptoms when infected with “omicron”.

Alexey Agranovsky, professor of the Department of Virology, Faculty of Biology, Moscow State University, told in an interview radio Sputnik that the asymptomatic course of the coronavirus poses a great danger:

“The Omicron-strain of the coronavirus is a completely new story, no statistics have been accumulated. But we can assume that the Omicron-strain, like other strains of the coronavirus, can be transferred asymptomatically. This was the case with the zero Wuhan strain, and with others – in some people do not show symptoms of a viral infection, but at the same time it develops in the body. “Asymptomatic patients” who do not feel sick are dangerous to others. The downside of this flow of the omicron strain is that a person himself may not even suspect that he is a carrier. If this happens, the infected person will be able to transmit the virus further. Those who become infected can become seriously ill. In addition, among such asymptomatic carriers there are “super-spreaders.” dozens of people. “

According to the professor, you can only protect yourself from asymptomatic carriers of SARS CoV-2 in your environment with the help of timely vaccination and compliance with sanitary and hygienic protective measuresrecommended by doctors. He recalled that the vaccine, although it does not give one hundred percent protection, allows you to avoid the severe course of COVID-19.

Doctor-therapist, toxicologist Alexey Vodovozov, in a conversation on the radio Sputnik, explained what hybrid immunity is, which increases protection against infection tenfold. He noted that both those who have had the coronavirus and those who have received a full course of vaccinations from it are infected with the omicron strain – the new mutation is highly infectious. Based on the information currently available, you are not immune from this. pathogen, even if you have already had the COVID-19 delta strain. The doctor notes that the vaccine provides more reliable, but not ideal, protection:

“If you got sick with the previous strains of the coronavirus, this gives practically no protection against the omicron. Vaccination with two doses of the vaccine shows a better result than the previous disease. But, unfortunately, even such indicators of protection against the “omicron” are lower in comparison with what protection was given by vaccines against the “delta” strain. All vaccines worked very well against delta. “

The best protection against “omicron“, according to Vodovozov, people with hybrid immunity have – who have both been ill and vaccinated:

“Hybrid immunity turned out to be ten times higher in effectiveness against omicron. Hybrid immunity is a combination of a past disease and vaccination, and in any combination. According to the information that we have today, this is most likely the most effective protection from the “omicron” of all available and even theoretically possible “.

That is, vaccination, the expert believes, is in any case necessary:

“If the disease is against the background of vaccination, then a person will have a mild course of COVID-19. Although vaccines do not provide one hundred percent protection against infection with omicron, they still provide protection against severe cases, from getting on ventilators and deaths.”

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