A study published in South Africa on Tuesday showed that two doses of Pfizer vaccine can provide 70% protection from severe illness. It also shows that the disease caused by omicron does not seem to be severe compared to the earlier variant. However, as scientists suspected, this variant is much more infectious and appears to be able to reinfect people with earlier variants.

Bloomberg: Omicron vaccine efficacy: Pfizer vaccination can prevent 70% of hospitalizations. Pfizer’s two-shot vaccination process may provide 70% protection against hospitalization due to the Covid-19 omicron variant, which is the largest medical insurance provider in South Africa Discovery Ltd. Say. Discovery Health Ltd. CEO Ryan Noach (Ryan Noach) said at a briefing on Tuesday that this protection is for different age groups and a range of chronic diseases. He said that Pfizer has an effective rate of 33% against omicron variant infections. (Kew, 12/14)

But this variant is extremely contagious--

USA Today: COVID Omicron variants are "highly spread": South Africa studies that new omicron variants are more contagious and reduce the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine, but according to a study, fully vaccinated people are largely Still protected from serious diseases The South African research report released on Tuesday. This variant is believed to have appeared in southern Africa this fall, and looks like the delta was ready to take over the world. Omicron accounts for 90% of COVID-19 cases in South Africa and is a growing problem in Europe. It has appeared in at least 30 states in the United States, although delta variants still dominate the outbreak in the United States. (Weintraub and Weise, 12/14)

"Washington Post": The Omicron study concluded that the variant is more resistant to vaccines, resulting in a lighter new coronavirus. This is the first large-scale private study since omicron was first discovered last month. A study of 211,000 positive coronavirus cases by Discovery Health, the largest health insurance company in South Africa, shows that the risk of being hospitalized for adults infected with COVID-19 is 29% lower than the initial pandemic wave in March 2020. (Wroughton, 12/14)

Axios: Pfizer’s Omicron study points to the tidal wave of U.S. cases. New data from South Africa and Europe suggests that Omicron cases are about to break out in the U.S. The vast majority of the U.S. population is not well protected from infection. A new analysis by South Africa's largest private insurance company describes the clinical risks of Omicron: Two doses of Pfizer's vaccine appear to be significantly less effective than previous vaccines for serious diseases of Omicron. But compared to the original version, this variant is unlikely to cause an adult to be hospitalized. (Owens, 12/14)

CNN: Omicron is spreading rapidly. Even if it is mild, it is worrying that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is spreading rapidly in several countries where it has been discovered. Even if it only causes mild illness-which is far from certain-it still could mean that many people will eventually be hospitalized and die. According to government authorities, it caused at least one death in the UK and sent 10 people to hospitals-most of them were vaccinated. "In South Africa, where the Delta circulation rate is low, it spreads faster than the Delta variant, but in other countries with high Delta incidence (such as the United Kingdom), it also seems to spread faster than the Delta variant," World Health The organization said in its technical briefing last week. (Fox, 12/14)

Anchorage Daily News: The first case of Omicron variant in Alaska appears because the state's COVID-19 count is declining. The first case of omicron variant reported in Alaska on Monday is the number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the state On the occasion of a steady decline. On Monday, the state reported virus-related deaths and 422 new cases. The number of cases fell sharply compared to earlier in the fall, when most of the state's health care capacity was overwhelmed, resulting in hundreds of illnesses and deaths. (Krakow, 12/13)

Bloomberg: The severity of Omicron in South Africa may be overshadowed by the previous 72% Covid infection rate. A recent seroprevalence survey in Gauteng, South Africa where the omicron variant was first discovered, showed that 72% of the population had previously been infected with the coronavirus. Said Shabir Madhi, a vaccinologist at the University of Witwatersrand. In contrast, when the Beta variant appeared a year ago, the proportion was about 20%, said Madhi, who led the injection trials of AstraZeneca Plc and Novavax Inc. in South Africa. "The evolution of the omicron variant is at a very different stage of the pandemic," Madhi said in an interview with the Global Health Crisis Coordination Center. "When we see what is happening in South Africa and what we might see in other environments, we have to keep this in mind, which may have a very different epidemiology." (Skuizin, 12/14)

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