WASHINGTON: The head of the White House Medical Advisor Antony Fauci on Wednesday said that the shooting booster is currently working against the Omicron Covid-19 variant and does not need a variant specific booster.
“Our booster vaccine regimen works against Omicron,” Fauci said to the public during the White House Covid update on Wednesday.
“At this point, there is no need for a variant specific booster.” Fauci said the vaccination series of two main doses of Pfizer and Bionech were significantly compromised by Omicron, but still offered considerable protection against severe illness, CNBC reported.
Protection from a two-dose vaccine against infection fell to 33 percent compared to 80% before the emergence of Omicron.
However, two doses are still 70 percent effective to prevent hospitalization in omicron patients in South Africa, Fauci said.
The center for Disease Control and Rochelle prevention director Walensky said at least 36 states in the US and more than 75 countries have reported confirmed cases caused by the Omicron variant.
Omicron variants are now estimated to represent around 3 percent of cases in the United States.
In some areas of the country, the director said that omicron estimates were even higher, including in New York and New Jersey where the CDC project that Omicron could represent around 13 percent of all cases.
“In seeing the initial data about the transmission of omicrons from other countries, we hope to see the proportion of omicron cases in the United States continue to grow in the coming weeks,” he said.