Omicron mutants less likely to cause serious illness in vaccinated people: BioNTech founder

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The founder of COVID-19 vaccine maker BioNTech said the new Omicron CCP virus variant is unlikely to cause serious illness in vaccinated people, according to doctors at Israel and Oxford University. It reflects what you said.

Since the World Health Organization (WHO) designated Omicron as a “variant of concern” last week, many countries have imposed restrictions on southern Africa, suggesting that a blockade could soon take place. The Dow Jones fell by more than 500 points by noon on Tuesday, and panic on this variant also experienced a recent stock market fall.

But BioNTech co-founder Ugur Sahin told The Wall Street Journal that people shouldn’t panic.

“Our message is: Don’t be surprised. The plan is the same. We will speed up the administration of the third booster shot,” said one of the most common vaccines in the world in partnership with Pfizer. Sahin, who created the, said: Said on Tuesday..

Based on what researchers know about the virus, Sahin said vaccinated individuals are highly mutated by WHO and other researchers to stop serious illness from the Omicron variant. He said he assumed that he could. He did not mention the innate immunity brought about by previous COVID-19 infections.

The Delta COVID-19 mutant, which federal health officials say is the predominant strain in the United States, appeared to be more infectious than the alpha strain, but most people experience mild symptoms, Sahin said. Stated.

“If the virus achieves antigenic escape, it achieves it against antibodies, but there is a second level of immune response, T cells, that protects against severe disease,” he said. “Even as an escape variant, the virus can hardly evade T cells altogether.”

according to According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, the United States has so far seen a COVID-19 survival rate of approximately 99%.

But despite his rosy outlook, Sahin also said that some countries like Germany, which are experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases, may need to impose additional restrictions. I did. Vaccine passports and obligations have proven to be a divisive topic in Europe, with tens of thousands of people demonstrating against them each week in major cities.

“Certain measures can push down the number of infections relatively quickly … in the current situation, we are in favor of effective measures,” he said without elaboration.

BioNTech executives will make a statement when Oxford University, which helped create the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 shot, issued a similar statement.

“Despite the emergence of new variants over the past year, vaccines continue to provide a very high level of protection against serious illness, Omicron said in a statement Tuesday. There is no evidence that it is different. ” “But if needed, we have the tools and processes needed to expedite the development of the latest COVID-19 vaccine.”

Jack phillips

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Jack Phillips is the latest news reporter for The Epoch Times, based in New York.

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