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Omicron has ‘substantial’ ability to evade natural immunity, South African researchers say
- Early analysis on the new variant suggests it carries a higher risk of reinfection than other strains
- But the scientists say urgent questions remain on vaccine-induced immunity and disease severity
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The Omicron coronavirus strain has shown “substantial” ability to evade natural immunity and increases the risk of reinfection, South African scientists at the forefront of researching the new variant of concern have found.
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Early evidence presented by the researchers suggests the risk of coronavirus reinfection increased threefold between the beginning of October and the end of November, the period when scientists believe the new variant was on the rise.
This differed from what they observed during the spread of earlier variants in South Africa, according to the researchers from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases and other research centres.
“In contrast to Beta and Delta, the Omicron variant of Sars-CoV-2 demonstrates substantial population-level evidence for evasion of immunity from prior infection,” they said in a paper released on Thursday that has not yet been peer reviewed.
“This finding has important implications for public health planning, particularly in countries like South Africa with high rates of immunity from prior infection.”
The report is among the first detailed analyses to be released as the world waits for scientists to decipher the heavily mutated strain, first reported to the World Health Organization by South Africa on November 24.
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