Omicron variant: WHO expects more information on transmission ‘within days’

More information on the Omicron COVID-19 variant could come within days rather than weeks, World Health Organization officials said.

The world will have more information on whether the Omicron COVID-19 variant is more transmissible than other variants within days, according to a top World Health Organization official.

Dr. Maria van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19, told a press conference Wednesday that she expects more information soon.

“We expect to have more information on transmission within days, not necessarily weeks, but in days,” she said.

Right now, it’s “early days” and too soon to say whether the virus either transmits more easily or causes more or less severe disease than previous variants, van Kerkhove said.

She noted, though, that whatever the outcome of these studies, vaccines remain critical to the fight against the virus.

“We just want to assure you that the vaccines that are in use right now have very strong protection against the dominant virus that is circulating globally,” she said.

“So it is absolutely critical that when it’s your turn, you get vaccinated because the chances of you developing severe disease and dying while vaccinated is significantly less than if you’re not vaccinated.”

Getting more people their first and second doses globally should be the focus, she said, rather than giving already-vaccinated people booster shots – something other WHO officials said has limited evidence to support it.