Omicron Today

The holidays are over, and our gift is positive news on the science front

Omicron’s feeble attack on the lungs could make it less dangerous.

Kozlov M. Nature. 2022 Jan 5. doi: 10.1038/d41586-022-00007-8. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34987210.

“Early indications from South Africa and the United Kingdom signal that the fast-spreading Omicron variant of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is less dangerous than its predecessor Delta. Now, a series of laboratory studies offers a tantalizing explanation for the difference: Omicron does not infect cells deep in the lung as readily as it does those in the upper airways.”

Importance: I discussed this back on December 15th in my Substack article:

“Has Omicron shifted receptor binding specificity away from deep lung tissue? Could this be why it appears that Omicron is less severe than other variants?”

Now this has now been confirmed in an animal model.

The importance of this research is also that it answers the question of whether those who have neither been infected of vaccinated will have a less severe course of disease. That answer is good news.  Omicron is more mild for everyone, significantly more mild.

The CDC has now approved boosters for ages 12-17 years of age. Of course we all know that this age cohort, particularly young men, has significant adverse events. So, we all have to ask why is this happening? Omicron is mild, there is no need for a vaccine or a booster, that does not stop transmission. In fact, there is even evidence that the vaccinated are catching Omicron more easily!

The truth is most of us have had some variant of COVID-19. But even if we haven’t, we will experience Omicron as a cold. But the vaccine has many adverse events – here are just a some of the peer reviewed literature on these side effects and death.

So, please parents – do your homework – make your decisions based on facts.

Has Omicron shifted receptor binding specificity away from deep lung tissue?

Could this be why it appears that Omicron is less severe than other variants?

HKUMed finds Omicron SARS-CoV-2 can infect faster and better than Delta in human bronchus but with less severe infection in lung

PreRelease of preprint from HKUMed: this paper is currently undergoing peer review

Authors: Dr Michael Chan Chi-wai, John Nicholls, Dr Kenrie Hui Pui-yan, Malik Peiris, Tam Wah-Ching, Professor Leo Poon Lit-man, Professor John…

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