Unvaccinated Omicron sick have a chance

Unvaccinated people infected with the Omicron variant of Covid may be less prone to severe illness than those infected with other variants.

But both groups are more prone than vaccinated individuals, according to a new study.

However, experts warned that those who are unvaccinated can still get severely ill and even die from the disease.

Professor Glenda Davison, Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s associate professor and head of the biomedical sciences, said some studies have shown that the majority of patients in ICU, and who have died, have been those who have not been vaccinated.

“Early evidence does suggest that the Omicron variant, although very contagious, appears less severe,” Davison explained. “So although it is clear that this wave has been milder, with less oxygen used, this is probably because in South Africa many people have been previously infected, and with the vaccination we are seeing milder disease.”

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A study by the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) in the Western Cape – which has not yet been peer-reviewed – compared more than 11,600 patients from the first three waves with about 5,100 from the Omicron-driven wave, which began in November.

The study concluded that about a quarter of the reduced risk of severe disease with Omicron was attributable to characteristics of the virus itself, and after adjusting for age, sex, and comorbidities there was a substantially reduced hazard of death in wave four, compared to wave three.

NICD public health specialist Dr Waasila Jassat said Omicron globally tended to cause less severe disease and proportionally fewer hospital admissions and deaths than previous variants.

“We don’t have much data from the previous waves on who was vaccinated and who was unvaccinated, so all the data we shared was on the fourth wave,” she added.

Jassat said the peak in deaths and hospitalisations was lower in the fourth wave than in the previous waves, and also said the cases peaked and declined at a higher rate than with the Delta peak.

“Ours is the first study from a setting of high prior seroprevalence to demonstrate less severe disease in wave four after adjusting for both vaccination and prior diagnosed infection,” the researchers said in the study.

The study therefore points to a “possible reduction in the virulence of Omicron”.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla on Friday said 70% of those who have been admitted to hospital were those who were unvaccinated and urged people to get the jab.

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