Salut trusts that the vaccine protects against the serious disease of omicrón

The Ministry of Health of Catalonia trusts that the covid-19 vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, Janssen and AstraZeneca) protect from serious disease in the infections caused by the new variant, omicron.

“We don’t know what the transmission capacity of omicrón. But, if we look at the history of the variants, we see that each variant has been having more transmission capacity. And, although the vaccine has been losing its ability to protect against infection, yes it has maintained the capacity of protection against gravity. It seems that we would also go in this aspect with the omicrón variant “, said this Wednesday the Head of Microbiology of the Vall d’Hebron Hospital, Thomas Pumarola.

Pumarola has participated in the press conference to report on the epidemiological situation carried out by the Secretary of Public Health, Carmen Cabezas, and the director of the Catalan Health Service (CatSalut), Gemma Craywinckel. The omicrón variant has “almost more than 30 mutations”, Pumarola has explained. “Currently vaccines like Pfizer or Moderna protect 60% from infection, but 90% from severe disease,” he said.

Catalonia is pending to confirm (although all the indications lead to this) if there are remains of the omicrón variant in wastewater. In addition, on Friday it will be confirmed whether the two suspected cases with this variant detected in the El Prat airport are confirmed. “There are indications that in some area of ​​Catalonia there is a sample of this variant in wastewater. You have to confirm it “, Heads said. “We are also doing epidemiological monitoring of people who have traveled to southern Africa. We are awaiting sequencing, which we will have on Friday,” he added.

Contained pressure

The Secretary of Public Health has also explained that, although epidemiological indicators are increasing in Catalonia, at the moment the healthcare pressure can be contained. In fact, if in other waves the hospitalizations represented a 10% of all infections, now they account for only 5%. All this thanks to the fact that 85% of Catalans over 12 years of age are vaccinated. “Out of every 20 cases, there is one hospitalization”, said Cabezas, who recalled that unvaccinated people over 50 years of age are 6.2 times more likely to enter an ICU than vaccinated people. Currently there are 682 people with covid-19 in Catalan hospitals, while in other waves there have been “2,000 or 3,000”.

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For his part, Craywinckel has warned that the coronavirus is once again entering hospitals (infecting patients and professionals), as it has happened in other waves. “That has an impact that can be very negative both in users and patients, as in healthcare professionals. Even so, we will not prohibit the entry of companions into the health centers, “he said. The director of CatSalut explained that, for now, there is no “unbridled pressure” in health centers. “We are in a containment phase, not mitigation,” he said.

She has called to request the covid-19 certificates in the vaccination centers and avoid going to the CAPs, which are seeing how visits increase due to the rise in infections. From November 22 to 30, in Catalonia two million certificates have been downloaded. And, since this tool was launched last summer, about 11 million.