Editorial: Next vaccine target already in sight thanks to Omicron

People wear masks as they walk through Westminster, in London. The British Government has announced tighter restrictions to stem the spread of the Omicron variant. Photo / AP

New Zealand appears to be, as it often has been with Covid-19, operating in its own phase of the pandemic at the moment.

As Aucklanders prepare to exit the city en masse later this week, the country is going through a relatively good patch in the health response.

New case numbers in the Delta outbreak have been falling on average since mid-November and reached 63 on Saturday and 103 yesterday.

That comes as the country is about to break the 90 per cent fully vaccinated mark for eligible Kiwis. Seven district health areas are already at 90 per cent or more and another seven are within 4 per cent of the goal. And there have also been 4.1 million downloads of the vaccine pass. That all amounts to most people being on the same page on vaccination to a high degree.

As Aucklanders pack for a drive or flight out of town for the first time in four months, they should probably make the most of their downtime.

For one thing, all the extra mingling and mobility last week and in the next few weeks could lead to more infections.

And while we're getting ready to sunbathe, swim and surf, countries around the world are scrambling to deal with the Omicron variant - a problem we won't be able to ignore.

Although more time is still needed to fully assess Omicron, its ability to transmit and reinfect people has stood out from early data. It appears to be both more infectious than Delta and able to slice through immunity defences to some degree.

Symptoms have to date tended to be milder. Neither the World Health Organisation nor the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention have reported any deaths from Omicron as yet.

There are case surges under way in South Africa and Britain. Superspreader events have occurred in several European countries. Waves of cases would put health systems under pressure.

Analysis in Britain showed the vaccines were less effective at stopping basic Omicron infection. In a real-world study on Omicron cases, a booster shot enabled about 75 per cent of people to avoid symptoms.

The UK Health Security Agency said vaccines were still likely to offer good protection against severe Covid-19 that required hospitalisation. WHO emergencies director Dr Mike Ryan also said last week that: "We have [vaccines] that have proved effective against all the variants so far, in terms of severe disease and hospitalisation, and there's no reason to expect that it wouldn't be so for Omicron."

Unlike Delta when it first emerged, Omicron is operating in populations where there are much higher numbers of vaccinated or Covid-recovered people than before. And booster programmes have been under way for weeks in the northern hemisphere.

Delta infections in Auckland were frequently in households. Former CDC director Dr Tom Frieden notes: "Omicron spreads FAST. Studies of household contacts find a higher risk of transmission — more than double — when index case is caused by Omicron than when it is caused by Delta. That's a striking finding."

New Zealand's booster programme is making inroads. More than 140,000 people have already had third shots. The efforts being made to get vaccines to vulnerable communities need to continue for boosters.

It looks like the next 90 per cent target - the third dose - has already been set.