Omicron: view persisting that it may be less virulent than previous variants

There's a good deal of back and forth on whether the Omicron variant is or is not less virulent than earlier forms of the SARS Co-V 2 virus. Here's another one reiterating the persistent view among some in the epidemiology community that it seems likely that it is. Less virulent, despite being both much more transmissible and more resistant to the vaccines, at least insofar as initial infection is concerned. 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/26/omicron-bleak-new-year-or-beginning-of-the-end-for-the-pandemic 

In any case, it seems completely clear that those who are fully vaccinated stand a much better chance of having only mild illness if they are infected, so the complete lunacy of refusing vaccination is only underscored. For me, it has reached the point where my sympathy for those who become seriously ill despite outright refusal to follow the best medical advice and get vaccinated has worn very thin. Every premature death is a tragedy, but people who contribute to the cause of their own and others' deaths or disability by willful refusal to do the right thing lose any claim to sympathy. Compassion, yes; sympathy, no; they are not quite the same thing.