PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — It's highly transmissible, but we don't know yet if omicron is more dangerous than other COVID-19 variants. Monday afternoon, President Joe Biden addressed the American public from the White House with an update on the U.S. response to the variant.
He praised the efforts of scientists in South Africa who discovered the new variant and notified the world. He says such transparency is key to the global fight against the coronavirus.
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The president's address had three main messages. First, he said, omicron is cause for concern not but panic. The United States has the best vaccines and the best scientists in the world, and there are more tools now than ever before to fight COVID-19.
Secondly, he stressed that the best protection against this variant of any other is to get fully vaccinated, and — if you are fully vaccinated — to get a booster shot.
And, third, in the unlikely event that new vaccines or boosters are needed to fight this new variant, the U.S. will spare to effort to speed up their development and implementation.
Biden said experts to not believe that additional measures will be needed, but they the White House is working with drugmakers Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Moderna on contingency plans.
Infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci says it appears it will take about two weeks to get a more complete understanding of omicron. Fauci echoed Biden's message, advising Americans not to panic and emphasizing the need for widespread vaccination — both to protect people against the virus' existing variants and to prevent new ones from developing.
In an interview that was recorded before omicron was detected, Fauci told CBS's "Face the Nation" that he thinks we will have to learn to live with at least some COVID-19 cases.
"I don't think we're going to eradicate it," he said. "The best way you can get to where you want to go is to just say, 'We're going to vaccinate as many people as we can. We're going to get as many people boosted as we can. And we're going to get that level down.'"
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CBS News contributor Dr. David Agus says it is still unknown how severe the variant is.
"When delta first arrived in the United States, we saw a significant increase of cases," he said. "And within four to six weeks, it started to become the dominant strain in many of the areas of the country. We don't yet know the infectious nature of this, although the initial data are certainly worrisome."
Omicron cases have been detected in countries around the world. The U.S. is banning travel from eight countries in southern Africa starting Monday.