Besides being incredibly contagious, COVID-19's omicron variant is frightening for its vaccine-resistant properties. The novel strain has more mutations around a crucial group of proteins that were used to create the original mRNA vaccines. Because of this, said vaccines are not as adept at protecting against the omicron strain, meaning breakthrough infections are common.
But as far as public health officials and immunologists are concerned, no infection at all would be preferable to even a mild breakthrough case — as such cases mean the virus can and will continue to spread.
