According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, data from South Africa don’t show higher rates of hospitalizations since omicron emerged, which is “encouraging” the expert says.
“Thus far, it doesn’t look like there’s a great degree of severity to it,” Fauci said Sunday. But we’ve really got to be careful before we make any determinations.”
South African officials confirmed Saturday that omicron’s disturbing aspect is that it is “more transmissible.”
“Our hospital admissions are not increasing at an alarming rate, meaning that whilst people may be testing positive, they are not in large numbers being admitted into hospitals,” they said.
However, Moderna Inc. President Stephen Hoge stressed that existing vaccines could be less effective against omicron.
“I think that there’s a real risk that we’re going to see a decrease in the effectiveness of the vaccines. What I don’t know is how substantial that is.”
