White Home Chief Medical Adviser Anthony Fauci mentioned Friday it needs to be about two weeks earlier than scientists totally perceive how transmissible and extreme the omicron variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 actually is, and till then, folks have to get vaccinations and booster pictures.
Throughout a briefing by the White Home COVID-19 Response Crew, Fauci mentioned South African researchers are main the best way however even their research will take one other week or two to get scientific knowledge. The omicron variant was first recognized in South Africa and there are extra and longer-term instances to review there, he mentioned.
The White Home response staff repeated a message delivered earlier this week by President Joe Biden, that omicron is a variant of concern. Fauci introduced new knowledge exhibiting each the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are markedly boosting antibodies and careworn the necessity for folks to get vaccinated.
U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky mentioned her company is working with well being departments throughout the US to assist them rapidly conduct the genome sequencing essential to isolate and determine the omicron variant. She mentioned the CDC is much more practical at this course of than it was earlier this 12 months.
Walensky careworn that whereas the main focus is on the omicron variant, the delta variant of the virus is dominant within the U.S. and accountable for 99.9 % of all instances within the nation, particularly among the many unvaccinated.
White Home COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients advised reporters that 2.2 million vaccinations – together with a couple of million boosters – have been administered within the U.S. on Thursday, the very best single-day complete since Might.
Zients mentioned Biden has outlined areas the place his administration is taking motion to deal with the potential risk posed by the omicron variant, together with vaccinations and boosters for adults, getting children vaccinated, offering free residence testing kits, strengthening journey guidelines and getting the remainder of the world vaccinated.
To the final level, Zients mentioned the U.S. has donated 1.2 billion doses of vaccine for international distribution, greater than all different nations mixed. Friday alone, he mentioned, the U.S. shipped 11 million doses of vaccine, 9 million of which have been designated for Africa.
