British Scientists: "Omicron Likely to Evade Immunity... Strict Response Needed"

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is riding a bicycle at a Christmas market near 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister's residence in London, on the 30th of last month (local time).

British scientists have warned that "the impact of the new COVID-19 variant Omicron is very uncertain, but a very serious response may be necessary."

On the 1st (local time), BBC obtained the minutes of an emergency meeting of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), which advises the government on COVID-19 response, and reported this.

The meeting, chaired via video conference on the 29th of last month by Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK government's Chief Scientific Adviser, and Professor Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer, was attended by about 30 people.

They believed that Omicron has a considerably high likelihood of partially evading immunity acquired from previous infection or vaccination.

They also predicted that while the scale of future infections is very uncertain, it is likely to require very serious response measures.

They emphasized that "it is important to prepare for a situation where infections accompanied by hospitalizations become widespread at this point before Omicron-related data is available," noting that the situation could develop rapidly.

They viewed that booster shots (additional vaccinations) would have short-term effectiveness in preventing severe illness, hospitalization, and death from most variants.

However, they pointed out, "If protection against infection significantly decreases, it could ultimately lead to large-scale infections, which in turn could result in a very high number of hospitalizations, even if protection against severe disease remains unaffected." They also evaluated that reintroducing COVID-19 testing before entry into the country is worthwhile.