Omg, Omicron! Why it’s too soon to panic about COVID vaccines and the new variant

Brisbane: Researchers around the world are trying to work out whether existing COVID vaccines protect us from the latest variant, Omicron.
The worst-case scenario is the virus has mutated so much in the crucial parts of its genome that it can escape COVID vaccines designed to protect us from earlier versions of the virus with devastating consequences globally.
But it’s too soon to panic. And vaccines may end up protecting us against Omicron after all, as they have done with earlier variants.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says it will take us another two to four weeks to figure out what’s going on. Here’s what scientists around the world are racing to find out.
Why the concern? The reason Omicron has caused global alarm is due to the number of new mutations throughout the genome of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID.
This data, coupled with real world data on the rapid rise in Omicron cases in South Africa, prompted the WHO to designate Omicron a variant of concern on November 26.