French Caribbean faces worsening Covid-19 vaccine protests as new virus strain emerges
A new COVID-19 strain, much more contagious than its original and the rest of the mutations have been detected in South Africa, prompting countries to suspend their travel to and from the country and causing shock in stock markets.
According to a report from Reuters, epidemiologists said that curbing the infection through travel bans may be a little too late. The new strain of SARS-CoV-2 has also been detected in Belgium, Botswana, Israel and Hong Kong.
The UK Health Security Agency revealed that the B.1.1.529 variant now named Omicron—the fifth variant of concern designated by the World Health Organisation (WHO)—has a distinct spike protein “dramatically different” than the other strains where the vaccines available were developed.
“This new variant of the COVID-19 virus is very worrying. It is the most heavily mutated version of the virus we have seen to date,” said Lawrence Young, a virologist at the Britain’s University of Warwick, who was interviewed by Reuters.
It could take weeks to fully understand the mutations, and whether the current vaccines can deal with the new strain.
“Some of the mutations that are similar to changes we’ve seen in other variants of concern are associated with enhanced transmissibility and with partial resistance to immunity induced by vaccination or natural infection,” Young added.
Worries over the new mutation have strained financial markets, “especially stocks of airlines and others in the travel sector, and oil, which tumbled by about $10 a barrel,” Reuters reported. This is always why even the WHO had earlier warned against travel curbs for now.
“It’s really important that there are no knee-jerk responses,” said Mike Ryan, WHO’s emergencies director.
Richard Lessells, a South Africa-based infectious disease expert, said that countries should instead focus more on the vaccination rates.
“This is why we talked about the risk of vaccine apartheid. This virus can evolve in the absence of adequate levels of vaccination,” he told Reuters.
French Caribbean protests against vaccinations
Martinique and Guadeloupe have been beleaguered by the worsening protests that were sparked by the mandatory vaccination on healthcare workers and firefighters, a COVID-19 measure that has been implemented in mainland France.
In a report by France 24, 10 police officers were injured and several journalists were shot at by men on a motorbike late on Thursday in Martinique while violence has continued in Guadeloupe in spite of the night curfew.
French government spokesman Gabriel Attal has called the unrest “totally unacceptable.”
Hundreds of police reinforcements have also been sent to the islands in the French Caribbean.