Infectious disease expert Dr. Rontgene Solante said Tuesday that the COVID-19 vaccines presently used in the country are still effective against a possible new coronavirus variation linked to the highly transmissible Omicron.
“Yes, so far kasi nakikita naman natin ‘yung (we could see that the) BA.1 and BA.2 on vaccines are working,” Solante said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview.
According to the World Health Organization, the XE recombinant is a mutant of the BA.1 and BA.2 sub-variants of Omicron. Rogante was asked if the immunizations might still protect the population against it (WHO).
Regardless, he believes the XE to be “more transmissible” than the BA.1 and BA.2.
“According to WHO, it is 10% more transmissible than the BA.2,” he added.
Apart from Thailand, Solante added that over 600 cases had been found in the United Kingdom (UK), but most of the sick had had mild symptoms so far.
“I think the behavior, the characteristic will (depend) on the population. Halimbawa mas bata ka, most likely mild lang ang mga sintomas nito (if you are young, then the symptoms can be mild), but if you are 60 years old and immunocompromised, then there will really be problem and it can also be severe,” the expert said.
Existing vaccines effective against ‘Omicron XE’ – expert
Solante noted that “it is still too early” to advocate border controls from the United Kingdom and Thailand because the XE must be closely monitored.
The Department of Health (DOH) announced on Monday that it is working closely with the WHO on the “Omicron XE” and closely monitoring case trends with the help of the Philippine Genome Center.
Until significant variations in transmission and illness features, including severity, WHO believed XE belongs to the Omicron variant.
“We’re still in that wall of immunity. Kaya lang [However], we have to maintain that,” Solante said. He also noted the importance of primary vaccine series and booster injections.
The Philippines logged 276 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, bringing the total number of infections to 3,679,761.
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