November 29, 2021
Omicron less threat than unvaxxed Māori
Omicron is waiting over the border – but it shouldn’t affect current efforts to vaccinate as many Māori as possible.
That’s the word from Rawiri McKree Jansen from Māori pandemic response group Te Rōpū Whakakaupapa Urutā about the Covid variant emerging out of South Africa that is spooking sharemarkets and leading some nations to close their borders.
He says every time Covid passes from one person to another it gets a chance to mutate, and those mutations are more likely to come out of countries with low vaccination rates in Asia, Africa and South America.
“We do need to be mindful that Omicron, a new variant, may be more transmissible than Delta, that’s a worry. It might be able to break through the vaccination protection we have. We don’t know how much it will break through but we’ve got to pay attention to that. Is it more deadly? We don’t know,” Dr Jansen says.
The focus needs to stay on vetting people vaccinated, and looking after those whānau who have got Covid Delta.