COVID-19: WHAT DO WE KNOW NOW ABOUT OMICRON?

In late December 2021 I published a report from Glasgow University suggesting that Omicron attacks cells through a different mechanism than that used by earlier variants.  As a result different cells are more susceptible, and the symptoms are very different.  I went as far as to suggest the disease should be called COVID-21 rather than the original COVID-19.

Since then I have been waiting for confirmation of the science, and acknowledgement that we are fighting two different diseases.  Similar but different, like cousins.  

THE LATEST RESEARCH

Further work, including by Imperial College London, has confirmed a simpler entry mechanism:

• Delta and earlier variants require both the ACE2 and TMPRSS2 receptors on cells to gain entry
• Omicron only requires ACE2
  

 

The article provides further detail, and suggests that Omicron can evade immunity to the earlier variants.  My own boosted triple-vaccination immunity certainly didn't stop me catching Omicron over Christmas.

The original Omicron BA.1 has spawned troublesome sub-lineages such as BA.1.1 and BA.2.  The latter is even more transmissible than the BA.1s, which in turn are far more transmissible than earlier variants.  We know the spike protein of the Omicron variants is physically very different from the other variants of concern such as Alpha and Delta.  A couple of weeks ago the World Health Organisation published an update on Omicron, but still regards it as variants of the SARS-COV-2 virus, rather than say SARS-COV-3.  No mention of a new disease name such as COVID-21.

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR US?

I think regarding Omicron as a variant of the same disease is missing a trick.  From personal and public health perspectives, we should be regarding Omicron and the earlier variants as two different diseases.  For example:

• Omicron causing different and generally milder symptoms, with existing vaccination and natural immunity offering little protection from infection
• Good immunity from future COVID infection effectively requires triple jabs plus a dose of Omicron itself (see my own personal experiment)
• Uncertainty as to whether a dose of Omicron provides any protection against Delta and earlier variants. Early indication are that it does, at least to some extent.  But it is too early to rely on protection being adequate, especially against any new variants
  
• Therefore public health policy based fundamentally on Omicron ignores the strong possibility of a resurgence of Delta and similar variants.  Removing isolation rules and scaling back testing so harshly are mistakes.  SAGE should continue to monitor developments
  

IN CONCLUSION

We should publicly acknowledge that there are two different coronavirus diseases, and live our lives individually and collectively with that understanding.  My concern is that the more dangerous Delta, and future variants of it, is waiting to really bite us in the posterior!