‘Omicron is causing hospitalizations’Vaccine inequity(With inputs from agencies)NEW DELHI: The Covid-19 pandemic is far from over, the World Health Organization chief said on Tuesday while cautioning against the narrative that the fast-spreading Omicron variant is mild. "This pandemic is nowhere near over, and with the incredible growth of Omicron globally, new variants are likely to emerge," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at a briefing.“In some countries, cases seem to have peaked, which gives hope that the worst of this latest wave is done with, but no country is out of the woods yet. Now is not the time to give up and wave the white flag.”Reiterating that mask and vaccines remain the best weapons against the virus, the WHO chief said: “Vaccines may be less effective at preventing infection and transmission of Omicron than they were for previous variants, but they still are exceptionally good at preventing serious disease and death. This is key to protecting hospitals from becoming overwhelmed.”Highlighting that vaccine inequity may have disastrous effects on the fight against Cvid-19, the WHO chief said: “New formulations of vaccines are being developed and assessed for how they perform against Omicron and other strains. We need to make sure we share current vaccines equitably and we develop distributed manufacturing around the world.
