SAN DIEGO — The Omicron variant continues to show up in multiple countries overseas including Israel and Portugal. On Monday, President Biden urged people not to panic but to continue to get vaccinated.
There are still so many questions and feelings of uncertainty about another coronavirus surge hitting the United States. But scientists here and abroad are stepping up to find out as much as they can about Omicron.
“Is it more transmissible? Does it make you more sick and fundamentally, will it evade our vaccines?” asked Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist and University of San Francisco Professor of Medicine.
On Friday, health officials in South Africa announced the COVID-19 variant Omicron had been detected through sequence testing. Dr. Gandhi said the variant will most likely spread but experts don’t know yet how bad it’ll affect people.
“Portugal. There was a group of soccer players who were all asymptomatic or few had mild symptoms with this variant, and they were fully vaccinated. Italy, not seeing a surge in cases with a highly vaccinated region. So that’s the most comforting thing I can think of,” Gandhi said,
Dr. Gandhi also said it’s too early to say if Omicron is more contagious than Delta but so far there’s no evidence that vaccines are not working. She said most of the Omicron cases reported have been among the unvaccinated.
“Yes, it does look like there’s some mild breakthroughs with the Omicron variant in vaccinated people but the people who are getting sick, quite sick, are the ones who are unvaccinated,” Gandhi said.
Although most adults in the U.S. are eligible to get a booster shot, Dr. Gandhi said she hopes the most vulnerable are prioritized for vaccine booster shots.
“I’m still more interested in those over 65, immunocompromised, multiple medical conditions. The original categories that the FDA and CDC approved because those were the individuals having severe breakthroughs,” Gandhi said.
The World Health Organization has designated Omicron as a variant of concern but the U.S. and other nations are still implementing travel bans to keep foreign travelers out.
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