A new variant, a new threat

“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in”. So goes the line by Al Pacino in The Godfather III. I just remembered this line as it relates to what is going on in our lives at present. With the number of cases going down all over the country, particularly in Metro Manila where a considerable percentage of the population have received at least one dose of the vaccine, restrictions have further eased. The NCR is now under Alert Level 2 which is why we are now seeing so many people, including children, flocking to the malls and other commercial places. Traffic has noticeably returned. Gone are the days when you would only see a handful of cars on the road. Public utility vehicles have also returned along with their bad habits. Life seems to slowly go back to normal as we approach the holiday season. It looks like we are going to have a much merrier Christmas this year.

But wait, a new variant, Omicron, has now been elevated into a variant of concern by the WHO. It was first discovered in South Africa and may have spread into neighboring countries. This has triggered a slew of travel bans to and from the African continent, but reports say it has already been discovered in several countries. According to Dr. Peter Hotez, professor and dean of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, what is more important than issuing travel bans is to get people vaccinated. We have seen variants emerge from countries where a large number remain unvaccinated. The Alpha variant originated from the unvaccinated population in the UK, the Delta variant from the unvaccinated population in India, and now Omicron from South Africa.

It is not yet known how the current vaccines will fare against Omicron. But Dr. Hotez stresses we concentrate all efforts to get the vaccine into countries with low vaccination rates. The delta variant is still the more concerning variant especially when countries seem to have slowed down in getting people vaccinated. We have seen the anti-vaccine movements in the US. Data from ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations show the US seemingly stagnant at around 66%. Europe is seeing a spike in cases prompting some governments to consider stricter restrictions with regards to going out, sparking protests. In the country, the DOH website shows around 35 million have received the second dose. Still a far cry from achieving herd immunity. The government has even downgraded its goals for the three-day vaccination program because of logistical problems such as the lack of syringes of all things.

The government has imposed a temporary suspension of flights from seven African countries until December 15. There are calls to include Hong Kong and Israel which will affect the travel of overseas workers. Stricter border controls are urged to prevent a repeat of when borders were not immediately closed and COVID-19 entered the country. If studies show the Omicron variant to be as deadly as Delta, along with studies concerning the protection vaccines offer against it, then the world has a huge problem. As the line said, we are being pulled back in.