Sacha Llorenti, Secretary-General of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), said on Friday that the stockpiling of COVID-19 vaccinations created perfect conditions for the Omicron strain to emerge.

"The appearance of Omicron was a foreseeable consequence of the hoarding of vaccines by some northern countries," Llorenti said, adding that "not giving priority to vaccinating all vulnerable people around the world causes deaths and prolongs the pandemic."

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Omicron a "risk variation" on Nov. 26 after experts cautioned that the strain's additional mutations imply it has a higher propensity for disease transmission. Scientists are working on new ways to prevent and manage contagions because the spread of Omicron cannot be easily contained.

BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin stated on Friday that current vaccinations must be changed since the new strain might more readily infect even those who have been inoculated.

Omicron is an "escape variety," meaning it "may be able to infect vaccinated persons," but "infected people who have been vaccinated will still be protected from severe illness," according to Sahin.

The spike protein, which the virus uses to enter and reproduce in human cells, is affected by 32 of the 50 mutations found so far in the Omicron version. Most vaccinations target this process, and researchers fear that owing to a large number of mutations, immune defenses may no longer be able to identify the protein.