Why the omicron wave is different

When SARS-CoV-2 first arrived, it was as if a raging wildfire had been blown by a strong wind through dry, flammable timber. So says Ali Ellebedy, PhD, an immunologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. As a population, he says, we were completely vulnerable to the virus because no one’s immune system had seen it before. In the two years since the virus first appeared, millions of infections and vaccinations have been able to tamp down some of the flames, and Ellebedy says that process should continue in the coming weeks and months. He’s looking forward to new vaccines being tested that are designed specifically to fight the omicron variant. He says if society wants to return to a more normal way of living, it’s important to vaccinate as many people as possible, as soon as possible, throughout the country and the world. But it’s also important to update vaccines to make them more effective. Ellebedy says that although he has no idea whether omicron will be the last of the major COVID-19 variants, he is confident that if another variant does arise, it will be more similar to omicron than to former variants, so he says omicron-derived vaccines should be beneficial even as the virus continues to evolve.

The podcast, “Show Me the Science,” is produced by the Office of Medical Public Affairs at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.