Omicron: A Blessing in Disguise?

Frontiers in Public Health

article

Esayas Kebede Gudina¹  Solomon Ali²  Guenter Froeschl³ 

[1] Department of Internal Medicine, Jimma University Institute of Health;Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College;Division of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, University Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität;Center for International Health, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität

关键词: COVID-19;    SARS-CoV-2;    COVID vaccine;    Omicron variant;    vaccine inequalities;    pandemic (COVID-19);   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpubh.2022.875022

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Two years after the first reported case and a year after the first shot of an effective vaccine, COVID-19 remains a major global threat and source of uncertainties. Although many thought a year ago that 2022 would be the year to return to normalcy, the world welcomed the New Year with record number of daily new cases in most countries. This is happening while we are having 10 vaccines approved for use by the World Health Organization ( 1 ) and some 64.5% of the global population has already taken at least a dose of one of the vaccines ( 2 ). The success against the pandemic was undermined by an inequitable distribution of the vaccines ( 3 ) and evolution of highly transmissible variants of the virus ( 4 ). Today while most of the wealthy countries have provided a booster dose vaccination for at least a third of their population ( 2 ), only 14% of the population in Africa has received the first shot ( 5 ). Paradoxically, there is a relevant proportion of the population, especially in high-income countries, that oppose getting immunized, as part of the no-vax movement ( 6 ).

【 授权许可】

CC BY