A growing body of preliminary research suggests that the Covid vaccines used in most of the world do not offer a defense against the Omicron variant.
The most important goal of all vaccines is to protect against serious illness from Omicron. Pfizer and Moderna shots seem to have success at stopping infections, but they are not available in most of the world.
Early research shows that the other shots, including those from Johnson & Johnson, do little to stop the spread of Omicron. Most countries have built their inoculation programs around these vaccines, so the gap could have a profound impact on the course of the Pandemic.
A global surge of infections in a world where billions of people are unvaccinated threatens the health of vulnerable individuals and increases the opportunity for the emergence of more variant infections. The ability of countries to weather the Pandemic will likely deepen. The news about vaccine efficacy against Omicron could cause people in the developing world to be less interested in getting their vaccinations.
The majority of evidence so far is based on laboratory experiments, which do not capture the full range of the body's immune response, and not from tracking the effect on real-world populations. The results are striking.
The Pfizer and Moderna shots use a new technology that has been shown to offer the best protection against infections. Older methods of triggering an immune response are the basis of all the other vaccines.
Almost half of all shots delivered globally are delivered by Sinovac and Sinopharm, which offer almost zero protection from Omicron. In low- and middle-income countries such as Mexico and Brazil, the majority of people have received these shots.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was not able to stop Omicron infections six months after it was given. In India, ninety percent of the population received this shot under the brand name Covishield, and it has been used in 44 countries.
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Workers unloaded a shipment of vaccine from China. China's Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines together make up almost half of all the shots delivered globally.
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Alessandro Grassani is a writer for The New York Times.
Russia's Sputnik vaccine, which is being used in Africa and Latin America, will show dismal rates of protection against Omicron, according to researchers.
The single-shot delivery regimen of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine makes it easy to deliver in low-resource settings. It has shown a negligible ability to block Omicron infections.
Antibodies are the first line of defense. Preliminary studies show that the shots are good for the growth of T cells, and that they still recognize the Omicron variant, which is important in preventing severe disease.
John Moore said that protection against mild infections is the first thing that you lose. Omicron appears to be less lethal than the Delta variant.
J. Stephen Morrison is the director of the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for International and Strategic Studies.
He said that the sheer scale of infections will overwhelm health systems. What does the world look like if you have a burst of infections worldwide? Is it, the war is over or the war has just entered another phase? We haven't begun to think about that.
People with breakthrough cases may only experience a mild illness, but they can pass the virus to unvaccinated people who could become a source of new variant.
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There was a Sinovac vaccine in Cachoeira do Piria. The news of limited vaccine efficacy against Omicron will make people hesitant to get their vaccinations.
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The New York Times reported that monks signed up for a shot in Thailand.
The chief executive of the global vaccine alliance said that more data was needed before drawing conclusions about the effectiveness of vaccines against Omicron, and that the focus of the response should be on accelerated vaccination.
Preliminary data from South Africa suggests that people who had Covid before will have a higher chance of being re-instated with Omicron. Some public health experts believe that countries that have already been through brutal waves of Covid, such as Brazil and India, may have a buffer against Omicron.
The combination of vaccine and exposure to the virus seems to be stronger than just having the vaccine, according to an epidemiologist in New Delhi. India has an adult vaccine rate of 40 percent but 90 percent exposure to the virus in some areas.
He said that Omicron is going to flood through India. India is protected by vaccination and exposure.
China doesn't have a layer of protection to back up its vaccines. Because of China's aggressive efforts to stop the spread of the virus within its borders, few people have had previous exposure. In the area where the epidemic began, 7 percent of people were affected.
The Chinese and Russian vaccines have been used by a lot of Latin America. According to a professor at the University of Chile, more than 90 percent of the people in the country have had two doses of the Sinovac vaccine. He said that a false sense of security is caused by high vaccination coverage and early reports that Omicron does not cause serious illness.
If you get high transmissibility, the health system will be saturated because the number of people getting ill will be higher.
Only 40 percent of the people who got the third dose of the vaccine have turned up for the extra shot, despite the recommendation by Brazil. Dr. Amilcar Tanuri said that the high levels of previous Covid exposure might blunt Omicron's impact, but noted that the most vulnerable Brazilians got Coronavac first.
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A woman is getting a vaccine at a clinic. J.&J.'s single-shot regimen is easy to deliver in low-resource settings, as demand for it has been surging in Africa.
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Delivery of Covidshield vaccines, India's version of the AstraZeneca shot, to Gosaba Island in West Bengal, India.
Mr. Morrison said that Omicron's ability to evade the protection of vaccination was a massive setback for low- and middle-income countries, where the focus is still on delivering first shots.
He said the world gets cleaved into two parts. Those who have a quick path to boosters are the ones who are subject to this new lashing.
Only 13 percent of people in Africa have received the least one dose of the vaccine.
The Indian government is considering booster shots, but the Delta variant still poses a significant threat in India, and two vaccine doses offer protection against Delta. The government has a difficult choice between trying to get people who are unvaccinated or only partly vaccined to two doses or trying to get people with high-risk medical conditions to get boosters.
The news that the non-mRNA vaccines offer little protection against Omicron may further erode demand for shots in countries that are struggling to build demand.
He said that this challenges the value of vaccines. If you suffer this, it will feed anti-vaccine sentiment and weaken confidence.
The threat to countries in the global south that have relied on non-mRNA vaccines was an indictment of wealthy countries failing to share that technology or help build production points in low- and middle-income countries.
The deputy minister of health in the country that had the worst outbreak of the disease predicted that the disease will continue to emerge from areas with low vaccination coverage.
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The Sputnik vaccine will be given in Moscow in July.
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In the Villa Maria del Triunfo neighborhood of Lima, nurses went house-to-house to deliver the vaccine.
Dr. Berkley said that it would be a mistake for countries to ease up on their vaccine push or assume that only mRNA vaccines are worth distributing.
If developed countries don't want these vaccines, then we don't want them, that's what we may be seeing. If it turns out that these vaccines prevent against severe disease and death, that would be the wrong interpretation.
She is named Lynsey Chutel. Carl and Emily were involved in the reporting.
