The deputy head of the Institute of Public Health warned that the new COVID-19 variant, dubbed Omicron, may cause the vaccine efficiency to drop.
Dritan Ulqinaku said on Now with Erla Mehilli that it is still too early to discuss this, as it is unknown whether the virus will spread at a fast pace from southern Africa.
The Delta variant did not have any major differences and expectations on the vaccine were pretty high, including actual treatments against COVID-19. Without a doubt, vaccine efficiency was not on the levels anticipated, but in the case of Omicron, it might render vaccines null altogether”, said Dr. Ulqinaku, adding “We’re still too early to make such prediction. Nature could even wipe out the virus completely in the course of two weeks”, said the epidemiologist.
His colleague Dr. Ilir Alimehmeti sided with him in the fact that neither the Beta variant succeeded in earning ground in Europe.
“All the variants that came from the southern hemisphere could not become dominant in the northern hemisphere, despite the fact that they were variants of concern. We’ll have to wait,” he said.
