Biden told it will take two weeks to have definitive data on Omicron variant
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Biden, returning to
Fauci said he believes existing vaccines are likely to provide "a degree of protection against severe cases of COVID", and officials reiterated their recommendation for vaccinated Americans to get booster shots, according to a readout of the briefing.
Biden was due to update the public on the new variant and the U.S. response on Monday, the White House said.
Omicron https://www.reuters.com/world/new-coronavirus-variant-omicron-keeps-spreading-australia-detects-cases-2021-11-28,
which was first detected in
Earlier on Sunday, Fauci told ABC News' "This Week" that the
new variant would "inevitably" reach
U.S. health officials were to speak with counterparts in
"It clearly is giving indication that it has the capability of transmitting rapidly. That's the thing that's causing us now to be concerned," he added on NBC.
Its appearance in
Rising cases as colder weather forces more people indoors
has also caused some hospital systems and U.S. states, including
So far, nearly 782,000 people have died in
TRAVELERS BANNED, NOT FLIGHTS
Beginning at
Flights by Delta Air Lines (DAL) and United Airlines
have continued https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/delta-united-not-revising-south-africa-flights-amid-variant-concerns-2021-11-26
from
Fauci and other top officials said the sudden burst of cases made Omicron worrisome and it remained unclear how current vaccines or therapeutics could be impacted.
"We need more data there before we can say confidently that
this is not a severe version of the virus, but we should find
that out in the next couple weeks," outgoing National Institutes
of Health Director Dr.
Vaccine makers Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna (MRNA) have said they expect more information soon.
"We have to go through a couple of weeks yet of
uncertainty," Moderna (MRNA) Chief Medical Officer Dr.
'CLARION CALL' FOR SHOTS
Fauci pressed Americans to continue to get COVID-19 vaccines and boosters while experts evaluate Omicron.
"This is a clarion call...(to) get vaccinated," he told NBC.
The governor of one hard-hit state,
The variant could cast a pall over the rest of the U.S. holiday season and potentially impact companies' return-to-office plans depending on what officials discover in coming weeks. A number of banks and other firms have said they planned for workers to come back in January.
On
(Writing by