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A new Covid omicron variant poses a greater risk to unvaccinated people and there is reason to believe current vaccines will be “quite effective,” a former White House adviser said on Monday. .
“What we do know for sure is that it’s a dangerous variant for people who haven’t been vaccinated,” Andy Slavitt told CNBC.Squawk Box Asia. “
“What we have to find out is whether omicron is present – how it spreads in an environment where deltas are very strong,” he said.
Slavitt was previously a senior advisor on the President Joe Biden’s coronavirus response team and ran the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services during the Obama administration.
What we know about omicron
The omicron strain was first identified by South African scientists and it has been detected in several countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Germany.
Health experts are concerned on the transmissibility of the omicron variant based on its unusual mutated constellation and configuration different from the variants of previous interest. Scientists are also trying to find out how effective current vaccines are in protecting people against any serious illness caused by this new strain of bacteria.
“I think we have good reason to believe that vaccines are as effective, if not as effective as and with boosters, they will be quite effective,” Slavitt told CNBC. “But pharmaceuticals will also return to the drawing board.”
Covid vaccine manufacturers Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca speak they are investigating and testing the omicron . variant.
An updated vaccine may be available, if needed, in the next several months, Slavitt said, before the omicron variant begins to spread meaningfully.
But the main problem facing the world today is vaccine inequality. Information compiled by Our World In Data shows that only about 44% of the world’s population has been fully immunized against Covid-19. But only a small percentage of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose of the drug.
Slavitt explains that it’s still too early to say how omicrons will appreciate compared to the lethal delta strain.
“We’ve come to a point where when we have a delta substitution variant that’s not severe or can be easily treated with drugs, that’s going to be a very new day for this pandemic. We can type in. wood happens right now, if it’s not with omicrons, it will probably be the next,” he said, adding that such a scenario has the potential to turn Covid like the common cold.
