Pouch: "Omicron is almost certainly not more severe than Delta" (Comprehensive)

GlaxoSmithKline's Treatment Effective Against Omicron
US Stock Market and Oil Prices Rise as Omicron Fear Eases

South African Medical Staff: "Omicron Reduces Pfizer Vaccine Neutralizing Antibodies by 40 Times"
Caution Against Premature Optimism on Omicron
Pfizer CEO Also Says "Highly Contagious, Definitely Not Good News"

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min, Reporter Lee Hyun-woo] As the COVID-19 Omicron variant rapidly spreads worldwide, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and a leading U.S. infectious disease expert (photo), said that Omicron is "almost certainly" not more severe than the Delta variant.

Relief over the Omicron variant led to a sharp rise in the New York indexes and international oil prices. However, there are also voices cautioning against premature optimism.

In an interview with AFP on the 7th (local time), Fauci, chief medical advisor to U.S. President Joe Biden, said it would take a few weeks to assess the severity of the Omicron variant, but early signs suggest that Omicron is not worse than Delta and may even be milder.

Regarding Omicron's transmissibility, Fauci said, "It is definitely highly contagious," and it is very likely stronger than Delta, which is currently the dominant strain worldwide. On severity, he added, "It is almost certainly not more severe than the Delta variant."

He explained, "There are even signs it could be less severe because some groups of confirmed cases being tracked in South Africa seem to have a lower ratio of infections to hospitalizations compared to Delta." In fact, early research by South African medical staff showed that the average hospital stay for Omicron patients was 2.8 days, shorter than the 8.5 days for Delta variant patients.

On the same day, British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) released research results indicating that sotrovimab (VIR-7831), a COVID-19 treatment jointly developed with U.S. pharmaceutical company Vir Biotechnology (Vir), appears effective against the Omicron variant. GSK stated in the released data that preclinical studies confirmed sotrovimab antibodies maintain activity against the Omicron variant.

Optimism about Omicron led to a 3.03% surge in the Nasdaq, with all three major New York indexes rising. Concerns that Omicron might reduce oil demand disappeared, and the January West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil price on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed at $72.05 per barrel, up $2.56 (3.7%) from the previous session.

However, warnings have been issued that optimism about the Omicron variant may be premature.

Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, attending the ‘CEO Council Summit’ hosted by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the same day, warned, "The high transmissibility of Omicron is by no means good news," adding, "It means it can infect billions of people and new variants can emerge rapidly."

Bourla emphasized, "Only 5% of South Africa’s population is aged 60 or older, and most are younger generations. Just because mild symptoms have appeared in South Africa does not mean we fully understand the clinical characteristics of the Omicron variant; we will only know precisely after the end of the year."

South Africa’s Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI) announced research results showing that the Omicron variant reduces Pfizer vaccine immune antibody levels to one-fortieth compared to the original virus. Dr. Alex Sigal, who led the study, said, "Immune protection has not completely disappeared, but there has been a significant loss," and added, "Receiving a booster shot is likely necessary to achieve effective immunity."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.