While Omicron may be plateauing in parts of North America and Europe, more than three billion people around the world have yet to receive even their first vaccine shot, a World Health Organization official said.
Called the ‘vaccination gap,’ this is so dangerous because it could allow another variant to develop and spread.
Remember, Omicron originated in southern Africa. Low vaccination coverage creates conditions for widespread virus circulation and with that the possibility of new variants emerging.
“It’s dangerous to assume that Omicron will be the last variant or that we are in the endgame,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the W.H.O.
“On the contrary, globally, the conditions are ideal for more variants to emerge.”
A sobering statistic: only about 62 percent of the world’s population has received at least one shot.