‘Omicron Not A Cause Of Panic’: Joe Biden Assures No Need To Cancel Winter Holidays
Biden said the country would not go back to lockdowns to stop the spread of Omicron and he would lay out his strategy on Thursday
Mumbai: American President Joe Biden on Monday has urged Americans not to panic about the new COVID-19 Omicron variant and informed that the United States was making contingency plans with pharmaceutical companies if new vaccines are needed.
In a statement from White House following a meeting with his COVID-19 team, Biden said, “This variant is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic.” He added, “We’re going to fight and beat this new variant.”
Biden said the country would not go back to lockdowns to stop the spread of Omicron, and he would lay out his strategy on Thursday for combating the pandemic over the winter. He urged people to get vaccinated, get boosters and follow Covid friendly behaviour.
Days after being detected in South Africa, the new mutated strain is being spread globally including the United States. A U.S. travel ban took effect earlier on Monday blocking most visitors from eight southern African nations from entering the country.
Emphasizing the fact that it was inevitable that Omicron cases would emerge in the United States, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said the variant should not cause Americans to change their holiday travel plans as long as they are vaccinated and wear masks.
“The White House is not curbing Biden’s travel plans or cancelling its holiday parties”, Psaki said.
Biden said he believed that existing vaccines would continue to protect against severe disease, but added that his administration was working with vaccine makers Pfizer (PFE.N), Moderna (MRNA.O) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) to develop contingency plans.
“In the event, hopefully unlikely, that updated vaccinations or boosters are needed to respond to this new variant, we will accelerate their development and deployment with every available tool,” he said.
Biden said he would direct the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to make those vaccines available quickly.
Separately, the CDC said all vaccinated Americans aged 18 years and older should get a booster shot – a stronger recommendation than the one it issued last week when the agency expanded booster eligibility to all adults but stopped short of saying that everybody should get them.
Vaccine hesitancy in the United States and around the world has thwarted public health officials’ efforts to get the pandemic under control. 59% of all eligible Americans are fully vaccinated, although almost 70% now have had at least one shot.
US government officials were supposed to get vaccinated by November 22. However, on Monday, the White House directed the federal agencies that they can delay punishing those who did not comply.
According to Reuters tally, nearly 782,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the United States.
The World Health Organization on Monday informed that Omicron carries a very high risk of infection surges, but said no deaths had yet been linked to the new variant.
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