BENGALURU: With the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 virus already in India, there can be no place for complacency on the part of the people despite completing vaccination, as this variant is able to escape vaccine immunity within four months of completion of vaccine dosage, Dr. Angelique Coetzee, Chairperson, South African Medical Association, who first flagged the highly mutated variant in South Africa, told The New Indian Express in an exclusive interview.
While the intensity of symptoms with Omicron is less in those who are vaccinated, Dr Coetzee said she observed this vaccine immunity-escape capability of Omicron from data collected on patients who were positive with this variant.
“We have two major vaccines here (in South Africa): Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson. In both cases, the data I have collected has shown that people who were vaccinated in July with both doses have been reinfected or even had a breakthrough infection with Omicron. This means that one can’t be complacent and stay away from getting tested if symptoms show after three months of vaccination,” she stressed.
She said Omicron patients presented “very different” symptoms as compared to those infected by the Delta variant. “I have seen nearly 600 patients with the Delta variant, and the symptoms mainly were fever, sore throat, cough, loss of smell and taste, and low saturation. But in Omicron, none of these exist. It is mainly body ache, severe headache, myalgia and fatigue. A test after 24-48 hours of these symptoms is important. If you test early there are chances of testing false negatives,” she said.