Pres. Biden: 'The news about this new variant should make clearer than ever why this pandemic will not end until we have global vaccinations.'
Some European countries are reentering lockdowns, tightening vaccination restrictions and reintroducing mask mandates.variant first identified in Botswana, with the World Health Organization saying Friday the new strain, dubbed omicron, is a variant of concern.
"We don't know very much about this yet," said WHO COVID-19 Technical Lead Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, speaking at an"Ask WHO" briefing Thursday. But concern about this variant stems from its"large number of mutations," Kerkhove said, which could"have an impact on how the virus behaves."People lineup to get tested for Covid at OR Tambo's airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, Nov. 26, 2021.
There are thousands of COVID-19 variants, with new ones emerging all the time. Usually new variants disappear quickly because they're overrun by a more dominant strain. Scientists across the globe constantly monitor all newly emerged variants to see if they're spreading in a meaningful way, and global health authorities have said they're monitoring this new variant closely.they will conduct experiments to see if the new variant can chip away at vaccine efficacy. Vaccine experts said current COVID-19 vaccines, which rely on genetic technology, could be easily updated to better combat emerging variants -- though so far, that hasn't been necessary.
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