Expert calls for simple change in face of Omicron: 'This is a disaster'
A top epidemiologist has warned disaster lies ahead if the Omicron variant of Covid-19 continues to spread.
Dr Zoë Hyde, an epidemiologist at The University of Western Australia, tweeted people fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine “likely have no protection against infection with the omicron strain”.
“This is a disaster,” she tweeted.
“Protection after three doses has likely taken a big hit as well. What it means for severe disease is unclear.”
Dr Hyde cited research from Professor Sandra Ciesek of the University Hospital Frankfurt who found that the ability to mount an antibody response to Omicron in people who had three shots of BioNTech/Pfizer was up to 37 times lower than the response to Delta.
Dr Hyde, who has pushed for Covid zero and annihilation of the virus, tweeted “we can expect a huge number of people to become infected”.
“Even if only a small proportion become unwell enough to need hospitalisation, this could still break healthcare systems,” she tweeted.
“A small proportion of a large number of infections is still a big number.”
I won’t sugar-coat things. This is a disaster.
People vaccinated with 2 doses of the Pfizer-BNT vaccine likely have no protection against infection with the omicron strain. Protection after 3 doses has likely taken a big hit as well.
What it means for severe disease is unclear. https://t.co/RD757xgcUb— Dr Zoë Hyde (@DrZoeHyde) December 8, 2021
She has suggested governments “fund the mass-production and distribution of KF-94, FFP2, and N95 masks”.
“Cloth and surgical masks aren’t good enough anymore,” she tweeted.
Dr Hyde most recently criticised Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews for stamping out any pursuit of "Omicron zero".
Warnings of a 'major third wave'
She told Yahoo News Australia she is "seriously concerned" about the new variant "because it looks like it’s both more transmissible than the delta variant and it’s able to get around our vaccines to some extent".
"Scientists in Germany have found that the antibodies people develop after having two vaccine doses don’t seem to have much ability to neutralise the virus," she said.
"This probably means that double-dose vaccination offers little protection against getting infected, although it will probably still keep the majority of people out of hospital. People who’ve had their third dose will be in much better shape to face the variant, so getting boosted is really important."
Dr Hyde added Australia could face a "major third wave" unless leaders act quickly.
"Nobody wants to see more lockdowns, but we could face that possibility if we don’t take the threat of the omicron variant seriously," she said.
"We need to offer everyone their third dose as soon as possible, and we need to go back to using masks in public places. We need to be using better masks as well.
"Singapore offered every household a pack of N95 masks, and I’d like to see state governments offer that here as well. We also need to do much more to protect schools, by putting portable HEPA air cleaners in classrooms."
Dr Hyde also believes the opening of international borders was premature and some form of quarantine is still required.
"The pandemic isn’t going to end until there’s a high level of vaccination globally, and I think Australia really needs to tread a more cautious path and use our geographical isolation to our advantage," she said.
Omicron and the Pfizer vaccine
We are still learning about the Omicron variant. More than 40 people have the variant in NSW and 516 new cases of Covid-19 were reported in the state on Friday.
Pfizer CEO Dr Albert Bourla told The Today Show three doses of the vaccine are as effective against Omicron as two doses are against the other pre-existing variants.
Dr Bourla added Pfizer is still waiting on more data though.
“But so far, it looks like a third booster dramatically improves the efficacy,” he said.
Australia’s former deputy chief health officer Dr Nick Coatsworth told Sky News on Thursday he expects the impact of Omicron in Australia to be minimal.
“I think what we’ve seen around the world is that there’s not a huge spike in hospitalisation, there’s not a huge increase in severity of disease,” Dr Coatsworth told Sky News.
“In real life in the complexity of the immune system, everybody who’s had a vaccine has responded well to the variants so far including Delta and I don’t expect that the Omicron variant is going to be any different.”
According to research from the Africa Health Research Institute in South Africa, the Omicron variant can evade two doses of Pfizer.
Alex Sigal, a professor at the research institute, tweeted there was "a very large drop" in neutralisation of the Omicron variant relative to an earlier strain of Covid-19. Dr Hyde cited Professor Sigal’s research in her claims.
A study showed that blood from people who had received two doses of the vaccine and had a prior infection was mostly able to neutralise the variant, suggesting that booster doses of the vaccine could help to fend off infection.
However, this paints a rosier picture than Professor Ciesek’s research.
An antibody response to Omicron half a year after a two-shot regimen of Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna or a mixed course of AstraZeneca/BioNTech was not even measurable, Professor Ciesek tweeted.
She posted only selected findings on Twitter, not including the number of samples, and the university said the paper had not yet been published.
"The set of data underscores that it makes sense to develop a vaccine that is adapted to Omicron," she tweeted.
World Health Organisation's chief scientist, Soumya Swaminathan, said a large drop in the antibody response of vaccinated people to Omicron had been expected.
"This does not mean the vaccine will not work – T-cell immunity (is) likely to persist," she tweeted, referring to a cellular immune response that is believed to prevent severe disease as a second line of immune defence.
Researchers including Carsten Watzl of the German Society of Immunology and Penny Ward, visiting professor at King’s College London, said the findings underscored the need to get booster shots because a three-shot course would likely continue to protect against severe disease.
Professor Sigal's lab tested blood from 12 people who had been vaccinated with two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, according to a manuscript posted on the website for his lab. The preliminary data in the manuscript has not yet been peer reviewed.
Blood from five out of six people who had been vaccinated as well as previously infected with Covid-19 still neutralised the Omicron variant, the manuscript said.
"These results are better than I expected. The more antibodies you got, the more chance you'll be protected from Omicron," Professor Sigal tweeted.
He said the lab had not tested the variant against blood from people who had received a booster dose, because they are not available in South Africa yet.
According to the manuscript, the lab observed a 41-fold decline in levels of neutralising antibodies against the Omicron variant.
Professor Sigal tweeted that figure is likely to be adjusted after his lab does more experiments.
While neutralising antibodies are an indicator of the body's immune response, scientists believe other kinds of cells such as B-cells and T-cells are also stimulated by the vaccines and help protect against the effects of the coronavirus.
Yahoo News Australia contacted Dr Hyde for comment.
with Reuters
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