Omicron, a new SARS-CoV-2 variant: assessing the impact on severity and vaccines efficacy

ABSTRACT

The reply letter has been put forth in response to the comment made by Karthyayani Priya Satish entitled “India and the COVID-19 Vaccine.” The comment was made in context to our published work “Exploring the covid-19 vaccine candidates against SARS-CoV-2 and its variants: where do we stand and where do we go?” The reply letter is concerned with the newer variant of SARS-CoV-2, i.e., Omicron and its impact on severity and vaccine efficacy. Though the variant is mild, as per the reports, the cases are rising at an unprecedented rate that may create havoc on humankind considering shortages of RT-PCR testing and prevailing unequal vaccine distribution and vaccine hesitancy.

KEYWORDS:

• Omicron
• SARS-CoV-2
• Covid-19
• vaccine efficacy

Author contributions

The manuscript has been prepared and drafted with the understanding and contributions of all the authors.

Acknowledgments

All the authors thank their respective affiliated working institutes for providing the necessary infrastructure and support to carry out the current work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.