Brit studies see positive signs in Omicron battle

Two vaccine makers say their shots offered protection against Omicron as UK data suggests it may cause proportionally fewer hospitalizations than the Delta variant, supporting conclusions reached in South Africa.

Infections have soared across much of the world as highly infectious Omicron has spread, triggering new curbs in many countries. World Health Organization officials have said, however, it is too soon to draw firm conclusions about its virulence.

First identified last month in southern Africa, the variant is quickly becoming dominant in much of western Europe including Britain, where daily infections have soared beyond 100,000.

Preliminary data had indicated Omicron was more resistant to vaccines developed before it emerged. But increases in hospitalizations and deaths in Britain since Omicron took hold have been more gradual, researchers said.

University of Edinburgh researchers, who tracked 22,205 patients infected with Omicron, said the number who needed to be hospitalized was 68 percent lower than they would have expected, based on the rate in patients with Delta.

Imperial College London researchers said they saw evidence over the last two weeks of a 40 to 45 percent reduction in the risk of hospitalization for Omicron relative to Delta.

Raghib Ali, senior clinical research associate at the University of Cambridge, said scientists had warned that, with the surge in UK cases, even a small proportion of hospitalizations could overwhelm the heath-care system.

But the UK data was encouraging and "may help justify the government's decision not to expand restrictions on social gathering over Christmas in England," he said.

AstraZeneca, meanwhile, said a three-course dose of its vaccine offered protection against the variant, citing data from an Oxford University lab study.

The findings, yet to be published in a peer-reviewed medical journal, match those from rivals BioNTech and Moderna.

The study on AstraZeneca's vaccine, Vaxzevria, showed that after a three-dose course, neutralizing levels against Omicron were broadly similar to those against Delta after two doses.

Novavax said early data showed its vaccine -authorized for use by European Union regulators and the WHO but yet to be approved by the United States - also generated an immune response against Omicron.

Beyond western Europe, the Delta variant continued to spread.

The death toll in Russia, where officials said this week they had detected only 41 Omicron cases, passed 600,000 yesterday. Only the United States and Brazil have recorded more coronavirus deaths.