“It is not known at this stage how contagious the virus is but it is possible that it is more contagious,” she noted, while clarifying that it is still not known if this new variant causes a more serious disease. That’s less than the 70 percent needed to beat back the pandemic although even that has been brought into question as some countries above that level are still struggling with the pandemic. Themistokleous said that a total of 7 million first-dose vaccinations have been administered, covering 79.2 percent of the adult population or 67 percent of the general population. Speaking at the same briefing, Marios Themistokleous, Secretary-General for Primary Health Care in the Health Ministry, said that as of December people will be able to get vaccinated on Sundays, except for Christmas and New Year’s Day. 20, said the state-run Athens-Macedonia News Agency (AMNA.) She underlined the importance of vaccination, adding that the committee will soon decide on whether to approve vaccination with Pfizer for children 5-11, the dosage a third of that for adults, the first batch due on Dec. While data on Omicron is still in its early stages, she said that, “it appears that cellular immunity – that is, memory cells – shields from most variants.” The symptoms of the new Omicron variant of Covid are mild but the cases also include young people in South Africa, she said. “We are experiencing a situation that was expected and can be addressed with the supply of vaccines in countries with low vaccination coverage,” she said, adding that the difference with Omicron “is the large number of mutations that appear in the gene of the spike protein, which the virus uses to invade the body.” “There is a growing fear that vaccines may be ineffective,” she said, noting that according to the WHO, infections are also expected among vaccinated people, but “the magnitude of the problem is expected to be small,” she said. “Vaccination, despite the possible reduction in effectiveness (due to Omicron) is still a shield of protection,” said Kathimerini The World Health Organization (WHO) warned the variant brings a high risk but Maria Theodoridou, President of the National Vaccination Committee said that,
ATHENS – While it’s unsure how effective current versions of COVID-19 vaccines are against the rising Omicron Variant around the world, Greek health officials said they are still the best defense.
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