Omicron coronavirus variant seen as a clarion call to vaccinate the globe
For almost a year since COVID-19 vaccines first became available, many leading health authorities have urged wealthy nations and vaccine manufacturing companies to prioritize inoculating people in poorer Southern Hemisphere nations to help prevent troublesome new variants from emerging. “With this level of vaccine inequality, variants like Omicron are completely predictable,” said Matthew Kavanagh, director of the Global Health Policy and Politics Initiative at Georgetown’s O’Neill Institute on Friday. We will continue to live in fear until we fix the vaccine inequalities.” On Friday, experts at the World Health Organization categorized Omicron as a “variant of concern,” the group’s most serious category. We just don’t know.” While multiple jabs and even boosters have significantly lowered the chances of serious illness or death to those who have taken advantage across the United States and much of Europe, large unvaccinated populations in the developing world provide far more opportunities for the coronavirus to evolve into new forms that could threaten the effectiveness of vaccines.
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