November 29 Omicron Covid-19 variant news

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, told CNN’s Jim Sciutto Monday that the Omicron variant is another reason for people to get vaccinated and boosted against Covid-19. 

“That was a reason already, but now add Omicron to the mix,” Collins said. “And we do believe that this new variant, which will probably come to our shores, will also be something vaccines and boosters can help you with.

Britain’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has advised the UK government to offer booster vaccines to all adults in an effort to slow the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, it said in a statement on Monday.

The JCVI also advised the government to offer a fourth shot to people with severe immunodeficiencies.

“Severely immunosuppressed individuals who have completed their primary course (3 doses) should be offered a booster dose with a minimum of 3 months between the third primary and booster dose,” the statement read. “Those who have not yet received their third dose may be given the third dose now to avoid further delay.”

“A further booster dose can be given in 3 months, in line with the clinical advice on optimal timing,” it added.

The Omicron variant has to be taken seriously, but it isn’t yet known whether it will outcompete the Delta variant in the United States, National Institutes for Health Director Dr. Francis Collins told CNN’s Jim Sciutto on Newsroom Monday.

“We worry that if the spike protein is of a different shape, maybe the antibodies won’t stick quite as well,” he said. “That’s the reason for the concern.” 

Collins did make the point that all the previous variants — which have all had differences in the spike protein — have responded to vaccines and boosters. 

“That’s a very important message I want everybody to hear right now,” he said. “The boosters do in fact allow your immune system to have a wide range of capabilities against spike proteins it hasn’t even seen before. So, if you needed one more reason, if you’re eligible to get that booster right away, this would be it.” 

When it comes to contagiousness, “I think it is clear from what’s happening in South Africa, that this Omicron variant does spread rapidly,” Collins said, noting that Covid-19 cases are relatively low in South Africa.

Remember: It's also too early to tell whether the Omicron variant causes more severe illness, Collins previously said.

The Omicron variant is now the dominant coronavirus strain in South Africa, less than two weeks after it was first detected in the country.

The new B.1.1.529 lineage accounts for 76% of samples that have been genetically sequenced in November, according information published by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases on Friday. The new variant was discovered in South Africa from specimens collected on Nov. 12.

South Africa sequences less than 1% of cases, according to GISAID, a public database of genetic sequencing data, while the United States sequences about 4% of cases. And South Africa’s NICD notes that that the number of genetic sequences conducted November is especially low, but ongoing.

By contrast, it took the Delta variant a few months to become the dominant strain in South Africa in early 2021.

The Omicron variant has been detected in about a dozen countries, according to GISAID, a public database of genetic sequencing data.

Remember: There's still a lot we don't know about Omicron. Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said it's not yet clear whether the Omicron variant is more contagious than the Delta variant.

It's also too early to tell whether the Omicron variant causes more severe illness, Collins said.

Stocks rebounded Monday, bouncing back from the steep selloff at the end of last week when investors feared the Omicron Covid variant could disrupt the global economic rebound.

Reports of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus brought back memories of last summer when the fast-spreading Delta variant put a dent in the recovery and consumer confidence. This spooked investors on a traditionally quiet day in the market following Thanksgiving, leading to one of the worst days for stocks this year.

The Dow logged its worst day since October 2020, while the S&P 500 had its worst performance since February. The Nasdaq Composite recorded its steepest fall since September. 

But just as the market quickly bounced back from its Delta fears, history appears to be repeating itself: investors are taking a breath and sensing a buying opportunity.

The market opened in the green, with all three indexes sharply higher. 

Other asset classes that were battered Friday — notably oil and cryptocurrencies — also recovered.

New York hospitals will once again be allowed to limit non-essential procedures after Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order Friday to try to raise hospital capacity and deal with staffing shortages ahead of possible winter spikes in Covid-19 cases. 

The order allows the state’s Department of Health to limit non-essential and non-urgent procedures for hospitals with limited capacity starting this coming Friday, according to a press release from the governor’s office

The order marks the first time that non-essential hospital services were limited since Dec. 23, 2020.

Friday's emergency declaration also expands the state's purchasing powers to rapidly obtain critical supplies to combat the pandemic, according to the governor's office.

The governor continued to encourage Covid-19 vaccinations, noting that more than 90% of all adults in New York have received at least one dose of the vaccine and more than 2 million booster shots have been administered.

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Lauren Kennedy was in South Africa, the last leg of a long-awaited vacation with her daughter Riley Campbell, when countries started shutting their borders to passengers from several southern African nations following the news of the discovery of the Omicron variant.

As most flights between Johannesburg and the United States are routed through Europe, the mother and daughter soon discovered they were stranded.

Currently, they hope to board a direct flight to the US that they booked for Monday night.

The relief, Kennedy says, is that they are vaccinated and have tested negative for Covid-19 as of Sunday.

However, communication with consulates and embassies has been unsuccessful.

"Of course this happened on a weekend. And of all weekends, a holiday weekend. So it's been pretty tricky. We haven't been able to talk to anybody at the consulate or embassy in South Africa. But we've had a number of supportive friends in America and some people within the government who have been sort of giving us tips, and being really helpful about what to expect and how to anticipate the next few days. We're just really putting one foot in front of the other right now," she said.

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It would take Moderna two to three months to begin and manufacturing an Omicron-specific Covid-19 vaccine, if it's needed, Dr. Paul Burton, chief medical officer of Moderna, said on Good Morning America Monday.

“It’s going to take some weeks, you know, two to three months is probably what we’re looking at to be able to really begin to test it and manufacture it," he said.

Asked what scientists are doing right now to get answers to how the vaccines hold up against Omicron, how contagious it is and how virulent it is, Burton said those are "key questions" scientists are studying.

"How transmissible is it? We think it’s probably quite transmissible. But how severe is the disease it causes? We don’t really know the answer to that question yet. And will it be neutralizable, can we contain it with the currently available vaccines? So, we at Moderna and other vaccine manufacturers here in the US and around the world are testing samples from people who have received our vaccines against the strains.”