A former White House advisor said that the new omicron Covid variant poses a greater risk for the unvaccinated and that there is reason to believe that current vaccines are going to be effective.
Andy Slavitt told CNBC that it is a dangerous variant for people who have not been vaccinations.
He said that they need to learn whether or not omicron spreads in an environment with strong delta.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services was run by Slavitt during the Obama administration.
The omicron strain has been found in several countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany.
Health experts are concerned about the omicron variant's transmissibility because of its unusual constellation of mutations and profile. Scientists are trying to figure out how effective current vaccines are in protecting people against a new strain of illness.
Slavitt told CNBC that he thinks the vaccines are effective if not as effective, and that they will be effective with boosters. pharma is also going back to the drawing board.
Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and other vaccine makers are investigating and testing the omicron variant.
It is possible that there will be updated vaccines in the next few months before the omicron variant starts to spread meaningfully.
The main problem the world is facing is vaccine inequity. According to Our World In Data, just over half of the world's population has been fully protected against Covid-19. A small percentage of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose.
Slavitt said that it is too early to tell how omicron will fare compared to the lethal delta strain.
When a variant that is not serious or can be easily treated with medication is found, that will be a new day for the Pandemic. He said that if wood isn't with omicron, it could be the next one and turn Covid into a cold.
