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Dr. Fauci just issued this urgent warning to vaccinated people in the face of a new variant! The infectious disease expert stresses what’s important as the worldA waits for Omikron – here’s how you can protect yourself!
Omikron sets everything back to square one!
In just one weekend, the Omikron variant seems to have turned the pandemic on its head. This new COVID variant has nearly three times as many mutations as the delta variant, some of which could cause Omicron to spread more easily and possibly escape current immune responses. However, these are only predictions at this point. Virus experts say it will take some time to gather enough data to determine whether or not this new variant will be more severe than the dominant delta variant. White House COVID advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci recently told President Joe Biden that it will take about two weeks to have more accurate information about the transmissibility and severity of this new variant of the virus.
Keep these precautions in mind!
Although we still don’t know so much about the Omicron variant, health officials have said there are proven COVID precautions that we know can ward off at least some infections and severe cases. “How can we address Omicron? … Get a booster if you’re vaccinated,” Fauci said during a White House news conference Nov. 30. “Continue to use the methods to contain the virus – especially masks, avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated areas.”
He added: “As with other variants, there may be a partial immune escape, but the vaccines, and especially the booster shots, confer a level of antibodies that provides some protection even against variants like Delta, especially against severe illness.”
Health officials warn
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have also recently stressed the importance of these protective methods. NIH Director Francis Collins, in an interview on ABC’s Good Morning America news program on November 30, reminded the public of his recommendation to wear masks, especially as the U.S. awaits the arrival of the new Omicron variant.
“I know we’re all tired of it, but the virus is not tired of us and continues to take advantage of opportunities where we’re careless,” Collins said. “I would recommend [wearing masks] even if I don’t know about Omicron, because Delta is very present.”
And on November 29, the CDC reaffirmed its recent decision to expand eligibility for booster vaccination by telling all vaccinated adults that they “should” (as opposed to “may”) receive this additional vaccination if they are six months from their second dose of Pfizer or Moderna or two months from their Johnson & Johnson vaccination.
Vaccination increasingly important
“The recent emergence of the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) underscores the importance of vaccination, boosters, and preventive measures to protect against COVID-19,” the CDC said in a statement.
Fauci also said that anyone who is not vaccinated should do so as soon as possible, even if the variant evades some of the vaccine protection. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, said on November 22 that there are still about 47 million unvaccinated adults and more than 12 million unvaccinated adolescents in the US who are eligible for vaccination.
“To be clear, we have far more options to fight the variant today than we had at this time last year,” Walensky said at the Nov. 30 briefing.
Omikron is highly mutated!
According to Fauci, while the highly mutated Omicron variant has been detected in nearly 20 countries so far, no confirmed cases have been detected by authorities in the United States.
In South Africa, where Omicron was first discovered, doctors report mild symptoms associated with the variant. However, Fauci cautioned that these reports are based on a small number of cases in younger and healthier patients, who typically have only a mild case of COVID regardless of the variant.
“It is very difficult to know whether or not this particular variant will lead to severe disease,” Fauci said at the press conference. “Although some preliminary information from South Africa suggests that the variant does not cause unusual symptoms, we don’t know and it’s too early to tell.”