Coronavirus | The 'Omicron' Variant

The 3 things about Omicron that make it SUPER concerning:

1. The specific mutations on the spike protein

2. The number of mutations in this virus

3. The fact that this FASTEST spreading COVID Variant 

The Covid Omicron variant emerged in South Africa. It was first discovered by scientists a few days ago. It has over 30 mutations on the spike protein that raise concerns that it might be more contagious, possibly cause more severe infection, and might evade our vaccines. This is not known for sure, but there is a HIGH level of concern, mainly because of how FAST this virus is spreading there. 

The question is, will our vaccines still be effective against the Omicron variant? 

That was the concern when Delta came out, and thankfully, our vaccines remain effective against Delta. But Delta doesn't have the same number of mutations as Omicron, and the big FEAR this virus evading our immune system might come true. 

I mean, we've had new variants emerge. We have seen many variants pop up over the last 8 months, and most of them, for example, Lamda, have not amounted to much. I mean, you hear about these new variants emerging all the time. They're expected.

And they're detected because scientists are constantly running surveillance on COVID. But here we are with the new one, Omicron. It has a certain level of concern, not just because it has MORE mutations in its spike protein, over 30 mutations, but also because some of those mutations are the SAME mutations as the other 4 variants of concern.

But we won't really know if this variant will escape our vaccines until probably a few weeks from now because it takes time to do these studies.