Omicron variant a cause for concern, not panic, medical experts say

Experts are calling for concern but advising against panic when it comes to the latest variant of COVID-19, omicron.

It’s still too soon to tell what the omicron variant is capable of; it carries a number of mutations, which could impact how easily it spreads. It could take weeks to figure out just how infectious it really is, and if vaccines are effective against it. Scientists and doctors are working worldwide to find out more. The World Health Organization said there is no evidence yet that vaccines, tests and treatments are any less effective against this variant.

It’s a waiting game for now, but Dr. Alejandro Perez-Trepichio, with Millenium Physician Group, says there is some promising news.

“We don’t know yet whether or not these new variants will be able to be covered by the current vaccine,” Perez-Trepichio said. “The good news, perhaps if there is any good news, is that the platform for mRNA vaccines, either the Pfizer or Moderna, can rapidly be modified. ‘Rapidly,’ I mean a couple of weeks or months to have some version that will cover, possibly, this variant.”

Moderna has already announced it is working on a potential booster to specifically protect against omicron.

President Joe Biden’s strategy for the omicron variant is to focus on vaccination and not shutdowns. There are currently no reported cases here in the U.S. Scientists in South Africa first identified the strain after a recent spike in COVID-19 cases there. As a result, there was a drop in the stock market, large events were canceled and many countries suspended a number of incoming flights. Fortunately, its symptoms so far seem to be milder than what was seen in the original strain of COVID-19 or in the delta variant.

Perez-Trepichio says dealing with variant after variant may the new normal until we can get the virus under control.

“Viruses continue to mutate in a significant way,” Perez-Trepichio said. “If we cannot minimize the amount of virus that is circulating, then that is a possibility, and we don’t know… there’s speculation as to how this particular one came to be. And the answer is, yes, we can expect to continue to have variants as long as we have a significant amount of the virus circulating in the world.”

Perez-Trepichio says he knows nobody wants to stay masked, socially distanced forever, or miss out on spending quality time with family, but it’s important to stay cautious until we know more.