Omicron COVID Variant: What we know and what we do not know.

What we know and do not know about the Omicron COVID Variant

Health experts across the globe are raising concerns about the newly discovered COVID-19 variant, Omicron, which was first identified in South Africa. The country's minister of health announced last week that the variant had already spread in different areas of the country. 

The next day, the World Health Organization designated Omicron a "variant of concern." 

President Joe Biden echoed this statement at a news briefing today, but he stressed that the new variant is a "cause for concern, not a cause for panic."

COVID-19 vaccine makers are looking into the vaccine's protection against the new variant.

 
"The mutations in the Omicron variant are concerning, and for several days, we have been moving as fast as possible to execute our strategy to address this variant," Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, said in a statement. 

 
Pfizer says that data about its vaccine's protection against Omicron should be released in the coming weeks. 

A number of countries are making efforts to prevent the global spread of Omicron. The US is just one of a number of countries that have placed new travel restrictions on South Africa and its neighboring countries. 

So what makes Omicron different from other COVID-19 variants? And how concerned should we be? Health experts help us break it down. 

What Do We Know So Far? 

There is a lot that we don't know about Omicron, including whether it causes more severe illness than other variants, says Leana Wen, MD, MSc, an emergency doctor and public health professor at George Washington University in Washington, DC.

But we do know that it's a variant with an unusually high number of mutations, or changes in the virus' genetic material. 

Early evidence also shows that the Omicron variant may spread easier than other COVID-19 variants, she says. 

 
"That's very concerning because Delta, which is the dominant variant here in the US and around the world, is already extremely contagious. So, if this is even more contagious, it could displace the Delta variant," says Wen.

Will COVID-19 Vaccines Work Against Omicron?

"We don't know whether the large number of mutations renders the vaccines less effective against this variant," says Wen. "Although many scientists believe — especially with a booster shot — that it's not going to render the vaccines ineffective."