The Air Rescue Team of FEMERAID International informs all our members, Knights and Dames of the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Knights of Malta, Federation of the Autonomous Priories (KMFAP) about the followings:

As predicted, the number of new cases of COVID-19 has broken all records, due to the surge of the Omicron variant in the Northern Hemisphere. However, many populations are now in a different environment, compared to that of the beginning of 2020 when the world was generally unprotected and exposed to the disease. Now, a large part of people in the Northern Hemisphere are fully vaccinated, and some have already had a booster to combat against this new variant. These factors are resulting in much lower than expected numbers of hospitalizations and cases in intensive care.

Nevertheless, the first deaths by Omicron have already been reported, which warns us all to the seriousness of the current situation. According to a preliminary study published yesterday, Pfizer and Moderna vaccines still provide a high level of protection against this new variant, especially for people who were vaccinated for more than 6 months and having taken the booster. We do not have conclusive data on the remaining vaccines, but it is expected that they do not offer protection against this variant.

The oral medication that prevents the replication of the virus is now being produced and will be available on the market soon. Until these are available, all health and sanitary precautions are critical to keep our communities safe, and yet they still may not be enough to win this current battle.

23th December 2021