COMMENTARY: Omicron — what we need to know

The World Health Organization names new viruses according to the Greek alphabet. Omicron is the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet. So, why the 15th letter instead of the next letter after Delta?

Well, other variants have come and gone. Disappeared. Epsilon appeared in India last October, Zeta in Brazil, April 2020, eta, theta iota, kappa, lambda, and mu, all came and and are now gone without making any fuss. The next name slot was Nu and then Xi.

WHO bypassed Nu since it sounded like “New” and then Xi was bypassed since it is the last name of the Chinese president and then everyone might start calling the new virus “CHINA VIRUS.” Therefore, the next after Xi is Omicron, and this is what was chosen by WHO for this new virus name.

WHO stopped naming viruses by where they first appeared or were reported, otherwise the nations where they appeared or were detected first may become defamed. Therefore, the Delta variant would have become India virus and Omicron, South African virus.

For example, we always remember Spanish Flu, thinking that it came from Spain. Not true, it was first reported by a Spanish newspaper, but it did not come from Spain. The new research shows that it most likely came from the United States.

Highly transmissible

What is unique about Omicron is that it is highly transmissible and in a very short time has replaced the Delta variant. Millions of people are already infected with this virus. But it has some positive characteristics as compared to the Delta variant. It is less pathogenic than Delta and causes much less severe disease than Delta. It does not infiltrate the lungs as the original COVID-19 or Delta. It is fair to state that it is much milder than Delta.

Many people who go to the hospital for other illnesses test positive for COVID-19, therefore, high hospitalizations are not due to Omicron. They test positive after they arrive for other medical causes unrelated to COVID. Most vaccinated people show no symptoms or show symptoms like the common cold.

However, it should be kept in mind that Omicron is 70 times more transmissible than Delta. And when compared with both Delta and the original coronavirus, it is much less lethal.

The Omicron variant can quickly get into the bronchus — the tubes that run through the upper airways and lungs — but is significantly less effective at infiltrating the lung tissue itself. It also replicates 10 times less efficiently once inside the human lung tissue than the original COVID-19 virus. This is the reason it causes much lower severity of disease. However, it is pertinent to know that COVID-19 is not only caused by a virus alone.

The human immune response also plays a central role in defending someone from developing a severe illness. If some individuals have less-effective immune response or are not vaccinated, it may take longer to fend off the virus and give a longer time for the virus to penetrate the deepest parts of the respiratory system. The folks who are not vaccinated, or have weak immune systems, are like those whose alarm systems are not on; it gives a greater opportunity for buglers to get into your house.

Less lethal

Why is the Omicron variant less lethal than the Delta variant?

The major reason is that even though the Omicron variant can be transmitted 70 times faster than the original COVID-19 and the Delta variant, it binds the lower part of the respiratory system much less efficiently. The Delta variant can bind the lung cells by using ACE2 and TMPRSS2 proteins much more tightly — many times more tightly — than the Omicron variant.

Hence, the Omicron causes much less severe illness. This can be visualized by thinking that both COVID-19 and the Delta variant bind the lungs cells and your smelling neurons (called olfactory neurons) like “crazy glue,” where as Omicron binds the lung tissue like sticky pad paper.

Can the mild Omicron variant provide a long-lasting protection against more lethal viruses, which are sure to emerge in the near future? Is this milder, highly transmissible virus a blessing that may raise protection against more virulent coronaviruses? We don’t’ know, but time will tell.

An endless pandemic?

We know that this virus will continue to evolve, and new variants will emerge — some much deadlier than the Delta variant. Is this going to be a never-ending pandemic? Are we going to require booster shots every few months? Is there a solution to this apparently never-ending pandemic?

There are several possible remedies to the apparent endless cycles of fear, quarantines, border closings, lockdowns, job losses and business closings. The first and most important one is the Omicron variant itself. It is highly transmissible and if it infects a large number of people with a very low mortality rate with relatively mild symptoms, then this may serve as a natural protection against other emerging more lethal coronaviruses. The data show that Omicron variant raises a good immunity against the Delta variant. Will it do the same against new, future, more worrisome coronaviruses? Only time will tell, but it is likely.

Will we ever reach herd immunity?

Many of you have heard of herd immunity and might wonder what that is. Usually, when doctors are telling you about herd immunity, they tell you that if we reach a vaccination rate of 60-75%, then we are all going to be safe from coronavirus. Well, this is a highly misunderstood concept.

The herd immunity depends on many factors. The first is how transmissible is the virus. If it is highly transmissible like Omicron, then we need much more than 75% vaccinated people. Also, how dense is the population? If it is a highly dense population, like in big cities, then 60-75% will not do. If the population is mobile — moving around a lot — it is going to spread the virus too much. With the degree of virulence of the Delta variant and 70-fold transmissibility of the Omicron variant, we are going to need a vaccination rate of 80-90%.

There are other very difficult factors in the emergence of the Omicron variant. The current vaccines are much less effective against this virus than the previous ones. Pfizer CEO announced a few days ago that they have already started to manufacture a new Omicron vaccine that will be available in March of this year.

How we stop the cycle of boosters, vaccines?

The very scientific, most logical solution to stop this quarterly cycle of boosting and the new mRNA vaccine is to develop vaccines that have a much broader coverage — meaning they are effective against large variants of COVID. One way is to utilize the “whole-killed coronavirus.” These types of vaccines have been around for centuries and are safe and highly effective. These inactive vaccines include cholera, plague, typhoid, influenza, polio, rabies, hepatitis and pertussis. Whole pathogen-inactive vaccines are produced when an entire pathogen is “killed” using formaldehyde and beta-Propiolactone.

Currently, when many nations are utilizing mRNA vaccines, which direct the antibodies only against the “spike proteins,” a whole virus vaccine will produce immunity against the whole virus. Therefore, despite the mutations in the spike proteins, the “whole virus” vaccinated person would resist the viruses, with many different types of variants, by producing antibodies against many different proteins of the virus.

The current mRNA vaccine that only targets the spike protein is like targeting an enemy’s arms only. The whole virus vaccine would target the whole body of the enemy. The spike proteins have a very high mutation rate as compared to other parts of the virus, so it is like trying to kill a fast-moving target — the arms of the virus. Whereas, the whole virus vaccine targets the body of the virus.

Who is making these types of vaccines that do not require boosting every month? Who has these types of vaccines? As I mentioned previously, most of the Chinese vaccines are whole virus vaccines.

Another, solution to this problem is to use a subunit vaccine. Subunit vaccines are produced by purifying the antigens that stimulate the immune response against the most important proteins of the pathogens, while removing other components necessary for the pathogen to replicate, or survive, or that can cause adverse reactions. The subunit vaccine development is a well-trusted and tried vaccine. The hepatitis B vaccine is a subunit vaccine, and it is highly successful and has been around for decades. Surprisingly, we in the U.S. also have subunit-vaccine. A team in Texas has developed several subunit vaccines — CORBEVAX.

This vaccine targets a larger part of the virus, and is very inexpensive. It has shown 92% protection and is not made of mRNA vaccine. It is made of coronavirus natural proteins. The CORBEVAX producers have made the technology available to anyone (no patent) and are producing 100 million doses per month. It costs very little to produce subunit or whole virus vaccines. It is safer and does not require a constant cycle of boosting.

The constant cycles of lockdowns, quarantines and economic chaos need to be revisited by the developed nations (i.e., the USA, EU and others). The mRNA vaccines were useful when we entered the pandemic and we needed a fast vaccine, but now we must move forward toward the well-tried and economically feasible vaccines.

China is our biggest competitor, and we never hear that they are boosting every few months. Why? They have whole virus vaccines. The subunit and the whole virus vaccines can be produced at a large scale at a very low cost. The old technology can be easily adopted by culturing any new variant in a few days and bringing new vaccines into the market against new emerging viruses.

What we do meanwhile?

For now, please get vaccinated if you are not vaccinated, wear a mask, keep a safe distance from others. Avoid large gatherings. Help folks who have lost their jobs and are going hungry. Do what Jesus would have done to help the community. Protecting our families and loved one is very important but helping the folks who are in dire need is the human thing to do.

Soon, I would like to tackle the commonly misunderstood notions that the vaccines would change our DNA, that they cause infertility and that they have chips to spy on everyone. My explanations would be not to insult anyone but to help all understand if any of these notions have scientific merits. That is for the future.