Speaking at the White House COVID-19 Team briefing, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said that there had been 12.5 million total coronavirus vaccine shots in arms last week – a number he explained was the highest weekly total since May.
"So, we're now vaccinating people in numbers that we haven't seen since the spring and that's critical progress as we head into the winter in front of the new omicron variant," he said.
The Biden administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has urged that American adults get COVID-19 booster shots – especially as the weather turns colder and news of confirmed omicron variant cases continues to spread.
Zients said that 55% of eligible seniors have been boosted and that five million children ages 5-11 years old have received at least their first COVID-19 shot.
This comes as CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky notes there are a daily average of 103,800 COVID-19 cases across the U.S.
"At CDC and across the government, we continue to remain focused on our efforts to address both the delta and the now omicron variants," she assured, though pointing out that more than 99% of cases continue to be from delta.
Omicron, the public health leader said, has been confirmed in 19 states, although that number is expected to increase.
It's also been reported in more than 50 countries and Walensky assured that state and local health authorities were implementing contact tracing to monitor the "variant of concern's" spread.
"We must act together in this moment to address the impact of the current cases we are seeing which are largely delta and prepare ourselves for the possibility for more omicron," she said.
Current vaccines, testing, masking and ventilation "works" at least to provide some protection from omicron, according to officials.
Following Walensky, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci explained that "real-world" evidence would allow scientists to better understand omicron's severity and infectivity – though it is too early to determine those factors.
"But, inklings that we are getting – and we must remember these are still in the form of anecdotal, but hopefully in the next few weeks we'll get a much clearer picture…But, it appears that with the cases that are seen, we are not seeing a very severe profile of disease. In fact, it might be – and I underscore 'might' – be less severe, as shown by the ratio of hospitalizations per number of new cases," he said, as he flipped through slides. "However, this could be influenced by the fact that many in this particular cohort are young individuals."
"The hospital stay seems to be less and the use of supplemental oxygen [seems] to be less. Again, I caution you, these are still preliminary," Fauci noted.
The White House chief medical advisor also cited a recent study by South African scientists that suggested omicron was more likely to cause reinfection than previous COVID-19 variants, though pointing out that indication was "without definitive proof."
Lastly, Fauci said researchers were working on animal and lab studies to evaluate immune protection and answer "some key questions."
He warned later, responding to a question from CNN, that we "shouldn't be making definitive conclusions" on omicron and "certainly not before the next couple of weeks."
Omicron cases have been confirmed in at least nine African countries, with some officials reporting that initial cases appear to be mild.
Countries reporting omicron include: Botswana, Ghana, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
South Africa remains the epicenter of the omicron outbreak, with experts saying that the overwhelming majority of its thousands of new cases per day are of the new variant.
In southern Africa, Namibia has confirmed 18 cases of omicron, none of which are hospitalized, the country’s health minister Kalumbi Shangula said.
Early evidence suggests that omicron spreads faster but initially the symptoms appear to be mild, he said.
“Cases are going up, but admissions are low,” Shangula said of hospitalizations. Omicron has quickly become the dominant variant in Namibia, he said.
“Omicron is a new variant, more is yet to be known about it, its behavior and the effect that it will have on the pandemic trajectory,” he said. “The information available indicates current vaccines are still effective in reducing severe illness, hospitalization and death.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
How can I protect myself from the new omicron variant?
The same way you guard against COVID-19 caused by any other variant: Get vaccinated if you haven’t yet, get a booster if you’re eligible and step up other precautions, like wearing a mask and avoiding crowds.
For all the attention omicron is getting, the overwhelming cause of infections and deaths in many places remains the extra-contagious delta variant.
"Delta is the real risk right now. Omicron is an uncertain threat,” Dr. Francis Collins, director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, told The Associated Press. Regardless of the coronavirus type, Collins said “we do know what to do.”
It will take a few weeks to learn key aspects about this latest variant, including whether it’s more contagious, causes more severe illness or evades immunity -- and if so, how by much.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
{{#rendered}}All private employers in New York City will have to require their workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, the mayor announced Monday.
The move by Mayor Bill de Blasio comes as cases are climbing again in the U.S. and the omicron variant is gaining a toehold in the nation's largest city and around the country.
“We in New York City have decided to use a preemptive strike to really do something bold to stop the further growth of COVID and the dangers it’s causing to all of us,” he said.
De Blasio, a Democrat with just weeks left in office, said the mandate will take effect Dec. 27, with in-person workers needing to provide proof they have received at least one dose of the vaccine. And, they will not be allowed to get out of the requirement by agreeing to regular COVID-19 testing instead.
The measure will apply to roughly 184,000 businesses not covered by previous vaccine mandates, ranging from multinational corporations to mom-and-pop businesses in the city of 8.8 million people, according to a spokesperson for the mayor.
The city's private-sector workforce is 3.7 million.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Global health officials are trying to learn about the COVID-19 omicron variant and say the mutation may overtake delta to become the world's dominant strain.
“It’s still early days, but increasingly, data is starting to trickle in, suggesting that omicron is likely to outcompete delta in many, if not all, places,” said Dr. Jacob Lemieux, who monitors variants for a research collaboration led by Harvard Medical School.
Cities are putting safeguards in place with the hope that the variant can be contained. Meanwhile, reports out of South Africa indicate that omicron may be less severe than previous variants.
The New York Times reported that scientist at a hospital in Pretoria say patients with the new mutation seem to be less sick than those who previously sought treatment. The paper said most patients discovered they had the virus after being admitted for other issues. - The Associated Press contributed to this report
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