WEB DESK

World Health Organization has said preliminary evidence indicates that COVID-19 vaccines may be less effective against infection and transmission linked to the Omicron coronavirus variant.

The WHO, in its latest , said that more data is needed to better understand the extent to which Omicron may evade immunity derived from either vaccines or previous infection.

Echoing comments made by WHO officials at a briefing, the UN health body said, as a result of this, the overall risk related to the new variant of concern Omicron remains very high. The WHO further said, for the first time since the dominant Delta variant was classified as a variant of concern in April, the percentage of Delta sequences registered on the GISAID global science database has declined this week compared with other variants of concern. This needs to be interpreted with caution as countries may perform targeted sequencing for Omicron and therefore upload fewer sequences on all other variants, including Delta, the WHO added.