How Scientists Race Against Omicron and Future Variants
Eventually, the world will have to grapple with Covid-19 strains that combine the strongest traits of prior coronavirus mutations. Vaccines remain the best answer.
Is the world prepared?
Photographer: Justin Tallis/AFP
What happens when two nasty Covid-19 variants get together and share their most effective mutations? Omicron and delta have brought us closer to the answer, says Peter White, a virologist at the University of New South Wales who warns of the inevitability of a new Covid-19 "super strain." He joined Stephanie Topp, a global public health expert at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia, and Bloomberg Opinion columnist David Fickling for a Twitter Spaces discussion on the implications of the newest coronavirus variant shaking up the world. Leading the conversation, which has been lightly edited for length and clarity, is Bloomberg Opinion columnist Anjani Trivedi.
Anjani Trivedi: Here we are again. Omicron. Were you surprised, Peter?