| Home / College Guide / Is The Omicron Variant A Direct Result Of Restrictive Patents? |
| Posted on Monday, November 29 @ 00:00:07 PST |
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed flaws in our system. It changed the way humans conduct their affairs. But now, as 2021 comes to a close, the pandemic seemed to recede. Maharashtra, the state in India with the highest number of COVID cases, recently recorded 656 cases in a day, the lowest in the last 18 months. This looks like good news. And it was. Until a new variant was freshly detected in South Africa.
The South African variant, B.1.1.529 , has been called “Omicron,” after the Greek alphabet. This is not the first variant, nor the only one to be found. But it surely is the most dangerous. Up until B.1.1.529 was found, the Delta variant of the virus was the most powerful. Delta mutated twice. But the Omicron variant mutated 32 times, making it a ‘ variant of concern-sars-cov-2-variant-of-concern) .’
Scientists are worried about the effects of the virus. As of now, it is too early to assume vaccine efficacy against the virus. The variant may be evading the immune response of the body, and thus could be highly transmissible. But some scientists believe that the mutations can make the virus unstable, preventing it from being highly transmissible.
Although that is plausible, current evidence proves otherwise.
All the 77 samples analysed by researchers in the Gauteng province of South Africa had the Omicron variant. Scientists are concerned that the variant has already travelled far and wide.
The Omicron does not demand the tedious process of breaking up genomes. It can easily be identified by looking at the genotype or the overall makeup of the cell. But this also means a spike mutation, which is proof that it is much more powerful.
Spike mutation refers to the spike protein that is present in the virus. To affect a human body, the virus has to enter the cells. Our cells, however, have a defence mechanism that doesn’t allow them to enter. Viruses like COVID-19 carry a fatty membrane around them. Most of the time, a sugary substance called glycoprotein is used as a membrane. That is why it is called a protein . COVID-19 and similar viruses use their outer membrane to join themselves to the cell and then take over.
Spike protein is the type of glycoprotein that COVID-19 has. When the virus mutates, it is this protein, specifically, that mutates. Sometimes it makes the virus ineffective. But at at times it strengthens the virus, making it more effective and transmissible.
Between December 2019 and December 2020, SARS-COV2 or COVID-19 mutated twice per month.
The most powerful among them was the Delta variant. Until, of course, the Omicron variant came in. It will take another two weeks for the researchers to study the virus and present the first results.
The Omicron was first found in Botswana , (the only other country where the mutated variant was detected is in Hong Kong), where a person who flew in from South Africa was found with it. As of now, 22 persons have been detected with the virus in South Africa, and at least 100 in Botswana.
Part of the reason why the virus was able to mutate in Botswana is the lack of sufficient vaccines in the entirety of Africa. Major companies that produce the vaccine–including Pfizer, Moderna and BioNtTech–have no partnerships with companies in Africa. They are instead asking governments to donate more vaccines as they ramp up production. This is what happens when corporations are reluctant to share patents.
A COVID-19 vaccine was proposed by South Africa, and the Biden administration announced a waiver for intellectual property (or IP) on it at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting last year. But that went nowhere. The WTO has not put any pressure on the U.S. to get its pharma companies to partner with the ones in the global south.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has time and again criticised the ‘me-first’ approach of the Global North. The UN body also warned that not sharing will IP only cause more variants to crop up. In October 2020, India, along with South Africa, had asked for an IP waiver for their vaccine. They never got it. By December, the Delta variant appeared in India.
In India, a high alert has been sounded against the virus. The Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that people arriving from Botswana, South Africa and Hong Kong will have to go through rigorous screening on arrival. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has directed state governments, Union Territories and other agencies to track and trace contacts of those who arrived from South Africa.
Britain stopped flights from six African countries. These include Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini and Zimbabwe, apart from South Africa and Botswana. The virus may cause South Africa to experience its fourth wave. Interestingly, the country has another variant that developed earlier this year. It’s called C.1.2. The variant was not as powerful as the Delta variant. South Africa has the most number of cases in the African continent.
On Wednesday, 1,200 people were https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/covid-variant-in-south-africa-south-africa-coronavirus-variant-covid-variant-south-africa-detects-new-covid-19-variant-with-multiple-mutations-2624522 with COVID – 19.
According to Francois Balloux, Director of University College London (UCL) Genetics Insitute, the virus might have mutated because of contact with an immunocompromised person, possibly someone who suffered from HIV/AIDS.
Theoretically, the Omicron, a variant of concern, could possibly have been avoided if the pharmaceutical companies that profited from the pandemic shared their intellectual property with the poorer countries in the global south. That the distribution of vaccines, whose life saving technology could shield the world from ever-mutating viruses, are controlled by a few corporations is more a matter of concern than a new virus. It is unlikely that the world will ever get rid of the virus as long as the “me first” and “profit from the pandemic” approach is followed by the global north.
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