Minireviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jan 7, 2022; 10(1): 1-11
Published online Jan 7, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i1.1
Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) of SARS-CoV-2: Mutation, infectivity, transmission, and vaccine resistance
Shi-Yan Ren, Wen-Biao Wang, Rong-Ding Gao, Ai-Mei Zhou
Shi-Yan Ren, Rong-Ding Gao, Laser Vascular Surgery, Aviation General Hospital, China Medical University, Beijing 10012, China
Wen-Biao Wang, Department of Stomatology, Aviation General Hospital, China Medical University, Beijing 100012, China
Ai-Mei Zhou, Department of General Surgery, Aviation General Hospital, China Medical University, Beijing 10012, China
Author contributions: Ren SY searched the references, designed, composed, revised and submitted the manuscript; Wang WB, Gao RD, and Zhou AM searched the references, designed and discussed the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Shi-Yan Ren, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Surgeon, Laser Vascular Surgery, Aviation General Hospital, China Medical University, No. 2 Beiyuan Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 10012, China. rens66@126.com
Received: December 8, 2021
Peer-review started: December 8, 2021
First decision: December 13, 2021
Revised: December 16, 2021
Accepted: December 24, 2021
Article in press: December 24, 2021
Published online: January 7, 2022
Processing time: 21 Days and 17.7 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: The Omicron variant is highly transmissible and is spreading faster than any previous variant, but causes less severe symptoms than previous variants. The Omicron is able to escape the immune system’s defenses and coronavirus disease 2019 vaccines are less effective against the Omicron variant. Early careful preventive steps including vaccination will be the key to the suppression of the Omicron variant.