U.S. urges broader COVID-19 vaccination as concerns rise over Omicron variant
U.S. President Joe Biden urged Americans to get vaccinated and schedule boosters, calling the shots "the best protection against this new variant or any of the variants out there."
All adults should get a COVID-19 booster shot following the emergence of the new Omicron variant of COVID-19, though no case has been reported yet in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday.
Previously, the CDC advised people over 50 or living in a long-term care facility "should" get a booster, while all other adults "may" get boosters at least six months after their previous shots. Now all adults should get a booster, the CDC said.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden has expressed confidence that the United States can handle the new variant. He also urged Americans to get vaccinated and schedule boosters, calling the shots "the best protection against this new variant or any of the variants out there."
News portal Politico reported on Tuesday that "the sudden emergence of the Omicron variant has sparked fears of another devastating wave of the virus, one that could endanger the White House's plans to focus on Biden's legislative agenda and efforts to battle inflation and a bottlenecked supply chain."
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"Hoping to avoid some of the toll that Delta took, the administration is moving quickly to respond. But little is yet known about the new variant, first identified just days ago in South Africa, complicating exactly what they can say or do." it added.
On Monday, The Hill reported that "there are steps that can be taken in the meantime, ranging from getting more people vaccinated and boosted, both in the U.S. and globally, to improving surveillance to detect the new variant and distributing new antiviral treatments."
CALM NEEDED
Pfizer and its partner BioNTech are expected to ask the Food and Drug Administration in the coming days to authorize its booster shot for 16- and 17-year-olds, and the regulators are expected to sign off quickly, The Washington Post on Monday quoted reliable sources as saying.
Currently, Americans who are 18 and older are eligible for boosters six months after receiving the second shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines. They can receive the Johnson & Johnson booster two months after getting the single-shot vaccine.
"The move to expand eligibility among teens comes as the White House is grappling with the Omicron variant that has captured the world's attention," said the report. Biden has said "this variant is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic. We'll fight this variant with scientific and knowledgeable actions."
"Scientists were stunned (by Omicron)," said The Washington Post in another report on Tuesday. "It had an unruly swarm of mutations. Many were known to be problematic, impeding the ability of antibodies to neutralize the virus. But there had never been a variant with so many of these mutations gathered in a package.
"We have seen these mutations in other strains, in twos and threes, and each time they were a little harder to neutralize, but didn't spread particularly well. Now, all together? It's a complete black box," Benjamin Neuman, a virologist at Texas A&M University, was quoted by the newspaper as saying in an email.
Biden's chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci has asked the public not to panic while scientists around the world rush to understand the threat posed by Omicron. It's going to take some time to "get a good handle" on the newly discovered strain, and "we should not be freaking out," Fauci told "CBS Mornings" on Monday.
ECONOMY RATTLED
The global economy could suffer a modest blow from the Omicron variant of COVID-19, though the scale of damage will hinge on the potency of the strain itself, The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday quoted economists as saying.
"Tourism spending will likely weaken, and perhaps so too will restaurant spending and shopping at stores," said the report. But compared with the initial wave of COVID-19 in March 2020 and the Delta variant this summer, Omicron's threat to economies will likely be less severe, in part because each new virus strain has had a diminished economic impact.
Economists predict Omicron could slow growth this quarter and early next year, but the impact won't lead to a contraction, according to the report. "It takes a boom into a boomlet," Diane Swonk, chief economist at accounting and advisory firm Grant Thornton LLP, was quoted as saying. "We've got a lot of momentum coming in and that helps."
On Monday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that the recent rise in COVID-19 cases and the emergence of the Omicron variant pose downside risks to U.S. employment and economic activity and increased uncertainty for inflation. "Greater concerns about the virus could reduce people's willingness to work in person, which would slow progress in the labor market and intensify supply-chain disruptions," he said.
On Tuesday, coronavirus vaccine maker Moderna set off alarm bells in financial markets by warning that current vaccines may be less effective at combating the Omicron variant compared with previous strains. "I think it's going to be a material drop," Stephane Bancel, Moderna's chief executive officer, told the Financial Times.
On the heels of this prediction, U.S. stock futures slumped and Asian markets retreated. Markets in Europe also fell. U.S. oil prices dropped back below 70 U.S. dollars a barrel, while gold rose and risk-sensitive currencies such as the Australian dollar weakened against the greenback. The 10-year Treasury yield also declined.
