The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday, 22 December, said it does not have enough data to ascertain if Omicron, the new COVID-19 variant, is more severe than the Delta variant.
This comes almost a month after Omicron triggered global alarm.
Speaking at a media briefing, Maria van Kerkhove, the global health body's technical lead on COVID-19, however, said they do have some data that suggests that the rates of hospitalisations are lower among Omicron patients, reported Reuters.
But she warned against drawing any conclusions from the early data as "we have not seen this variant circulate long enough in populations around the world, certainly in vulnerable populations."
She added that the data on the new variant was still "messy."
Kerkhove said they have been asking countries to be cautious and "to really think," especially as the holiday season is near.
A South African study published on Wednesday said that people infected with Omicron were significantly less likely to be admitted to hospitals compared to those infected by the Delta variant. The authors of the study, however, added that the lower rate of Omicron hospitalisations might be because of high levels of immunity among the population.
WHO DG Warns Against Blanket Booster Dose Programs
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries to learn the "painful lessons" taught by COVID-19 in the past two years and reiterated the need for a greater vaccine equity. "2022 must be the end of COVID-19 pandemic," he said.
He also warned that blanket vaccine booster programs are likely to prolong the COVID-19 pandemic rather than ending it, as a result of unequal distribution of vaccines between rich and poor countries.
Ghebreyesus told the media that "diverting supply to countries already having high levels of vaccination coverage" will give the virus "more opportunity to spread and mutate."
While some countries are now rolling out blanket vaccine booster programs, three in four health workers in Africa still remain unvaccinated by the end of 2021, a year since the first vaccines were administered, he said.
If those vaccines had been distributed equitably, the 40 percent target could have been reached in every country by September, he added.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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