The Director of the CDC gave her opening statement during the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing on "Next Steps: The Road Ahead for the COVID-19 Response" on Capitol Hill in Washington, November 4, 2021.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told all adults that they should get an additional dose of the Covid booster shot.
The recent emergence of the Omicron variant emphasizes the importance of vaccination, boosters, and prevention efforts needed to protect against COVID-19, according to the CDC Director.
Everyone over the age of 18 can get a booster dose if they want one, according to the CDC. Only people 50 and over were told to get the shots. Everyone 18 and older should get an additional shot six months after their initial Pfizer or Moderna series, or two months after their first Johnson & Johnson shot, according to the agency.
The World Health Organization warned that the global risk posed by omicron is very high. The variant has more than 30 changes to its spikeProtein alone, some of which are associated with higher transmission and reduced antibody protection. The WHO said that these genes could cause a surge of infections.
Scientists in the United States and around the world are looking at vaccine effectiveness related to the Omicron variant after early data from South Africa.
It is not yet known how much the heavily-revised omicron strain will affect the strength of the current vaccines. Pfizer and Moderna will have more data in about two weeks. The companies say that they can adjust their vaccines quickly.
Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, told CNBC on Monday that he doesn't think the vaccines won't protect. I think the result could be that the vaccines protect less.
Pfizer can develop a new vaccine in 100 days. Stephane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, told CNBC on Monday that the company could deploy a higher dosage booster shot against omicron quickly, but a variant-specific vaccine could take months.
President Joe Biden said on Monday that the country will face the variant sooner or later, and encouraged Americans to get booster shots for added protection. Walenksy urged people to get tested.
Walensky wants people to get a COVID-19 test if they are sick. Increased testing will help us identify Omicron.
Public health officials are concerned about a winter surge of Covid and declining vaccine strength.
A study published in the journal Science found that the Pfizer vaccine's effectiveness at preventing infections declined from February to October. J&J's vaccine efficacy against infections fell from 86% to 13%, while Moderna's vaccine efficacy dropped from 89% to 58%.
Pfizer found that its booster dose gave 98% protection against the symptoms of a disease.
