With the omicron variant now detected in at least 16 states in the U.S., CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the agency is 'following them closely' and that the number is 'likely to rise.'
"We know it has many mutations, more mutations than prior variants," she said."Many of those mutations have been associated with more transmissible variants, with evasion of some of our therapeutics, and potentially evasion of some of our immunity, and that's what we're watching really carefully."
The main concern right now, according to Walensky, is the dominant delta variant in the U.S. and the thousands of cases being diagnosed each day. "We have about 90 to 100,000 cases a day right now in the United States, and 99.9% of them are the delta variant," she said.But South African studies have so far shown that omicron is about twice as transmissible as delta, and when pressed by Raddatz on what that means for the next six months in the U.S., Walensky said it depends on how the public mobilizes together.
"We know from a vaccine standpoint that the more mutations a single variant has, the more immunity you really need to have in order to combat that variant, which is why right now we're really pushing to get more people vaccinated and more people boosted to really boost that immunity in every single individual," Walensky said.
She said the CDC is"hopeful" that current vaccines will work to at least prevent severe disease and keep people out of the hospital.should it be needed and Stephen Hoge, president of Moderna, said it could be ready early next year.
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