UK has greater percentage vaccinated than S Africa therefore less of the population susceptible to infection.
The accountant chappies at Pfizer are telling us that previous / present vaccines do not work against Omicron and that governments need to buy even more of their overpriced stuff. Those Pfizer bean counters would love to see everyone getting a jab every 2 weeks. If there are less people vaccinated in SA ( about 26% have been jabbed ) then it is even more re-assuring that no deaths reported from Omicron yet after over 4 weeks.
They are not saying they do not work.
They are saying protection, even from two vaccinations is less for Omicron than for previous variants.
(Many cases have had two vaccinations.)
That's what the guys from Sage are saying too.
7. "It is highly likely that Omicron can escape immunity to some extent, but it is not yet clear
how much. The evidence comes from the number of reinfections already seen, and from
the presence in the Omicron genome of a combination of mutations that are either
already known to be associated with immune escape or which are found in areas that
structural studies suggest will affect antibody binding. "
8. There is likely to be a greater reduction in protection conferred by previous infections or
vaccines against infection than against severe disease (high confidence). It is not yet
known whether the extent to which protection from natural infection, vaccination, or a
combination of both may be affected, nor how this might vary by the type of vaccine
used or the variant someone has previously been infected with.
10. Booster vaccinations have been shown to produce very strong antibody responses (high
confidence) and are likely to provide protection against severe disease, hospitalisation
and death from most variants at least in the short term, with protection against severe
disease remaining higher than protection against infection. Increasing coverage of
booster vaccinations (as well as increasing coverage of primary courses) is therefore an
important defence. Other vaccine strategies, such as updated vaccines, may also need
to be considered depending on the degree of immune escape. Companies are already
pursuing both multivalent vaccines and Omicron specific vaccines.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sage-97-minutes-coronavirus-covid-19-response-29-november-2021 (pdf)
Summary. Get your booster
Edit I have added the bit I can read from your Times article (paywall)
"The head of the drug maker Moderna has warned that the existing Covid-19 vaccines are unlikely to be
as effective against the Omicron variant as they were against previous variants. "
The operative word is "as" (the first one which I have underlined.)
