With new emerging variants comes new challenges. While the Delta variant was one of the deadliest of its kind, causing severe damage to the lungs, leading to severe, distressing symptoms and in the worst case scenario claiming many lives, the Omicron, which is comparatively more milder, is said to be highly transmissible, while possessing the ability to evade natural and vaccine-induced immunity. This is because the latest variant of concern is said to have over 50 mutations, which gives it the ability to spread faster and dodge the immune responses.
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That said, the greatest challenge currently is the effectiveness of the current vaccine against the mutations of the virus. It is likely that the vaccine’s effectiveness and efficacy may not be the same as earlier. A high efficacy rate of a COVID-19 vaccine does not mean that it will have a high level of effectiveness in the real world. Most of the time, the effectiveness of the vaccine differs due to variables taking place in the real world.
Furthermore, the coronavirus strain is continuously mutating and the same vaccine may not be effective on all the mutant variants. Therefore, experts have recommended either updating the existing COVID vaccines or developing variant-specific vaccines in the future.
