Covid, Fauci: "Two weeks to understand the danger of the Omicron variant"

2021-11-30T21:29:39.982Z

It will take two weeks to understand how dangerous Omicron is, its ability to evade vaccines, and whether it can cause more serious diseases. Thus the American epidemiologist Anthony Fauci during a briefing at the White House: "Researchers are testing the new variant". American laboratory technicians are already drawing blood from people who have been vaccinated or from people who have recovered "to see what happens when they are exposed to the new variant." "Understanding the transmissibility and possible avoidance of vaccines" Fauci asks to wait the time necessary for the necessary laboratory procedures, but the study machine on Omicron has started. The US epidemiologist explained the primary objectives of the variant studies: transmissibility with respect to Delta,whether and how it can evade vaccines and whether it can cause serious illness. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases explained: "Laboratory tests take time." "The variant not yet detected in the United States" "The Omicron variant, up to now, has not been detected in the United States," adds Fauci, for which there are "226 confirmed cases in 20 states, but it is difficult to predict whether it will cause a serious illness. " Preliminary data from South Africa - Fauci said - indicate that there would be no "unusual symptoms associated with the Omicron variant". This morning the well-known virologist, during an interview with CNN, had argued the probable efficacy of the current vaccines against the new variants: "The unvaccinated need to be vaccinated and those who can have a booster dose need to have it. Because experience has taught us that vaccines also work with variants to which they are not specifically targeted, such as the Delta variant. "