Majority of US Omicron cases found in fully vaccinated

The majority of the 43 cases of the COVID-19 Omicron variant identified in the United States so far, are people who were fully vaccinated.

That’s according to a US report published yesterday, which also says that a third of them had received a booster dose.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that of the 43 cases, 34 people had been fully vaccinated. Fourteen of them had also received a booster, although five of those cases occurred less than 14 days after the additional shot, before full protection kicks in.

While the numbers are very small, they add to growing concerns that current COVID-19 vaccines may offer less protection against the highly transmissible new variant.

The Omicron variant of the coronavirus has been detected in about 22 states so far, after first being identified in southern Africa and Hong Kong in late November.