This week, governments around the globe spun into full-scale panic thanks to the revelation of the so-called omicron variant of COVID-19. As of this writing, we know that omicron is likely more transmissible than prior variants. We have no evidence, however, that omicron is more deadly. To the contrary, Dr. Angelique Coetzee, chairwoman of the South African Medical Association, explained that the symptoms associated with omicron were “mild,” explaining, “we don’t see severely ill patients.”
Were that true, that would make omicron a cause for optimism. That’s because delta is already highly infectious and herd immunity seems to be a pipe dream — which means that if someone has the choice between an omicron infection and a delta infection, one would wish for the omicron infection. If omicron was to crowd out a deadlier variant, that would be a positive development for global health.
Yet the reaction from our institutional leaders has been completely unhinged. We have been told by the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that every American above the age of 18 ought to get a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, despite scant evidence that boosters lower the hospitalization and death rates from COVID-19 for the young (they certainly do for those over age 60).
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