Fauci: It's too early to say whether Omicron will hasten the end of the pandemic

Dr. Fauci

 

Fauci: It's too early to say whether Omicron will hasten the end of the pandemic

Experts are looking at the COVID crystal ball to predict where the Omicron variant will lead the United States, but the picture is far from clear.

According to CNBC, White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci said Monday it was an "open question" whether Omicron would be another different wave to disrupt everyday life dramatically. Asked whether the highly contagious variant could spread widely enough to hasten the end of the epidemic, Fauci said, "I hope that will be the case. But that will only be the case if we don't get another variant that eludes the immune response from the previous variable.

Meanwhile, Pfizer CEO Albert Burla expected a "return to normal life" sometime in the spring, according to a Fox Business report, citing an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro. Burla argues that the COVID-19 antiviral drugs under development could work in tandem with vaccines to prevent severe disease. Separately, Moderna CEO Stefan Bancel said the company's combined COVID-19 and influenza vaccine could be in circulation by the fall of 2023, according to CNN.

Other experts, such as Annelies Wilder-Smith of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, say it is "too early" to call COVID an endemic, but expect "there is a high probability that we will have a new variant" before then. However, it is likely to be a minor unit.

Regardless of the mysterious post-Omicron pandemic, everyone agrees that while we remain in the grip of the current variable, we must first focus on moving beyond our immediate future. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned on Sunday that this record wave has not yet peaked and declared that "the next few weeks will be difficult."