Most Vaccinated People Have Zero Protection Against Omicron Covid Variant —New Study

Matilda Omonaiye/

Millions of people have effectively no protection against the Omicron Covid variant, health experts have warned.

According British medical experts, the highly-transmissible mutant strain is likely to make up most cases of Covid in Britain over the next two weeks.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said in a report yesterday that Britain could reach one million infections by the end of this month. 

And while Covid booster jabs have been shown to be effective against Omicron, there are concerns that the millions of people who are yet to get their third inoculation could be unprotected against symptoms of the virus without it. 

Officials stress two doses should still offer high protection against severe illness but even a small drop in that could trigger a surge in hopsitalisations.

UK government scientists compared 581 cases of Omicron in Britain with 56,000 of Delta to give preliminary estimates of how well vaccines protect against a variant with mutations that help it evade the body’s immune response.

They found that the mostly elderly people who had two doses of AstraZeneca several months ago had almost no protection against Omicron infection, and two Pfizer doses offered little more than 30 per cent. 

But a third dose, if using Pfizer, can take protection levels back up to 71 per cent in those who had AstraZeneca the first time around and 76 per cent for those who had Pfizer.

This has led experts to urge people to get their third jabs.

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