Most of the 43 COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant identified in the United States so far were in people who were fully vaccinated, and a third of them had received a booster dose, according to a US report published on Friday. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that of the 43 cases attributed to the Omicron variant, 34 people had been fully vaccinated. Fourteen of them had also received a booster, although five of those cases occurred less than 14 days after the additional shot before full protection kicks in. While the numbers are very small, they add to growing concerns that current COVID-19 vaccines may offer less protection against the highly transmissible new variant. The Omicron variant of the coronavirus has been found through testing in about 22 states so far after first being identified in southern Africa and Hong Kong in late November. Among the Omicron cases, 25 were in people aged 18 to 39 and 14 had traveled internationally. Six people had previously been infected with the coronavirus. Most of them only had mild symptoms such as coughing, congestion, and fatigue, the report said, and one person was hospitalized for two days. Other symptoms reported less frequently including nausea or vomiting, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, diarrhea and loss of taste or smell. The CDC said that while many of the first reported Omicron cases appear to be mild, a lag exists between infection and more severe outcomes. Symptoms would also be expected to be milder in vaccinated persons and those with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection. The first known US Omicron case was identified on Dec. 1 in a fully vaccinated person who had traveled to South Africa. The CDC said that the earliest date of symptom onset was Nov. 15 in a person with a history of international travel. The Delta variant still accounts for more than 99% of all US cases. But reports from South Africa show that the Omicron variant is very transmissible. Even if most cases are mild, a highly transmissible variant could result in enough infections to overwhelm health systems, the CDC cautioned. Laboratory studies released this week suggest that the Omicron variant will blunt the protective power of two doses of Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine, although a third dose may restore that protection. The US has authorized COVID-19 vaccine booster for all Americans age 16 and older.
Yet over 90% of the hospitalized Omicron cases in South Africa are unvaccinated. It should be noted that many of the Omicron cases in the U.S. are primary — meaning the person traveled directly from South Africa. You had to be vaccinated to travel typically. Likewise most of the secondary U.S. cases involve conventions where you had to be vaccinated to attend such as the Anime Convention in NYC. It is not surprising that nearly all of initial cases are vaccinated based on these conditions — but you should note all these vaccinated cases have been mild — while also noting this trend will not last and shortly we will look like South Africa with our hospitals full of unvaccinated Omicron cases.
Okay, but South Africa has administered at least 27,043,034 doses of COVID vaccines so far. Assuming every person needs 2 doses, that's enough to have vaccinated only about 23.1% of the country's population. On the other hand, as of 6 a.m. EDT December 9th, a total of 200,717,387 Americans had been fully vaccinated, or 60.5 percent of the country's population, according to the CDC's data. The point is that Omicron can get you whether you're vaccinated or not. So, if most of the population is vaccinated, most of the victims will be vaccinated. If most of the population in unvaccinated, most of the victims will be unvaccinated.
And yet — as South Africa has shown — over 90% of the severely ill will be unvaccinated — just as it has been with previous Covid variants.
"South African research finds Omicron variant more contagious but less likely to cause serious illness. Vaccinologists from South Africa, where the new Omicron variant is spreading quickly, say it may cause less serious COVID cases than other forms of the virus, despite it being more contagious than previous strains."