Europe: Public health experts have warned of the threats of a new COVID-19 wave as cold weather arrives. Over this, the complexities in the types of vaccine shots available have slowed down the booster administration campaigns.
Meanwhile, new Omicron subvariants have been surfacing in the past few weeks. The officials from the World Health Organization(WHO), this week stated that scientists have been tracking newer forms of Omicron. Earlier this summer, Omicron BA.4/5 had spread out but remained behind a majority of infections.
In the latest data released by the World Health Organization on Wednesday, the number of cases in the European Union had reached up to 1.5 million, which is an 8% rise from the prior week. The results seem worrisome as the cases continue to rise despite the fall in testing rate. The cases, however, have been declining globally.
Moreover, the figures for hospitalization have also spiked in recent weeks, which indicates a lurking threat of another Covid-19 wave.
Within the last week, the figures for Covid-19 hospital admission with symptoms rose by 32% approximately in Italy, while the intensive care admission rate hiked by about 21% as compared to the previous week. At the same time, Britain reported a 45% increase in Covid-19 hospitalizations in comparison to the previous week.
The vaccines against the Omicron and its subvariants BA.1, as well as BA.4/5, had been launched in Europe in September alongside first-generation vaccines. However, Britain has only approved for the BA.1-tailored shots.
Health officials from Europe and Britain have approved the latest boosters for a selected group of citizens that, on preference, involves the elderly and those with certain serious conditions and a compromised immune system.
Public health experts believe that choice of vaccine as a booster would be confusing for citizens. Moreover, the willingness to receive another shot is wearing out, which seems worrying.
