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THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2021
Biden says new variant a cause for concern
By ZEKE MILLER
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
—
President Joe Biden called
the new COVID-19 variant
omicron a cause for concern
but “not a cause for panic”
Monday and said he was
not considering any wide-
spread U.S. lockdown. He
urged Americans anew to
get fully vaccinated, includ-
ing booster shots, and return
to face masks indoors in
public settings to slow any
spread.
Speaking Monday at the
White House, Biden said it
was inevitable that the new
variant would reach the
U.S., but he also said the
country has the tools nec-
essary to protect Americans
— particularly the approved
vaccines and booster shots.
When omicron arrives,
and it will, Biden said,
America will “face this new
threat just as we’ve faced
those that have come before
it.”
He appealed to the
roughly 80 million unvac-
cinated Americans aged 5
and up to get their shots,
and for the rest of the coun-
try to seek out booster shots
six months after their sec-
ond dose. He also encour-
aged everyone to get back
to wearing face masks in all
indoor public settings — a
pandemic precaution that
has fallen out of use across
much of the country.
Biden was joined by Dr.
Anthony Fauci, the nation’s
top infectious disease expert
and the president’s COVID-
19 adviser, who said earlier
that scientists hope to know
in the next week or two how
well the existing COVID-
19 vaccines protect against
the variant, and how dan-
gerous it is compared to ear-
lier strains.
“We really don’t know,”
Fauci told ABC’s “Good
Morning America,” calling
speculation premature.
The new variant poses
the latest test to Biden’s
eff orts to contain the pan-
demic, mitigate its impacts
on the economy and return
a sense of normalcy to the
U.S. during the holiday
season.
“This variant is a cause
for concern, not a cause for
panic,” Biden said.
Biden last week moved
to restrict travel from
South Africa and seven
other countries in southern
Africa, eff ective Monday, in
a bid to give scientists time
to learn more about the new
variant, and for more Amer-
icans to get vaccinated
before it hits the U.S.
Some other nations are
reinstating severe travel and
business lockdowns to pre-
vent the omicron variant
from spreading, but Biden
indicated the U.S. was not
following suit.
“If people are vaccinated
and wear their mask, there’s
no need for lockdowns,” he
said.
The move to limit most
travel from the countries
where omicron was fi rst
identifi ed was meant to pro-
vide time for the U.S to
learn more about the vari-
Evan Vucci/AP Photo
President Joe Biden speaks about the COVID-19 variant named omicron at the White House on Monday.
ant and to “intensify” the
domestic vaccination cam-
paign, Fauci said.
“It buys you a couple of
weeks because if you can
keep things out in force for
a couple of weeks you can
do a lot of things,” he told
“CBS Mornings.”
Pharmaceutical compa-
nies are already adjusting
their existing COVID-19
vaccines to better attack the
omicron variant, but Fauci
said Americans should
make it a priority to get
either their fi rst shots or a
booster dose now, rather
than waiting for a new
formulation.
“I would strongly sug-
gest you get boosted now,”
he said.
He added that depend-
ing on what scientists learn
about the omicron variant in
the coming weeks “we may
not need” targeted boosters
to contain that strain of the
virus.
Biden said his admin-
istration was “sparing no
eff ort at removing all road-
blocks to keep the Ameri-
can people safe,” including
working with drug manu-
facturers on potential new
boosters and testing tar-
geted specifi cally at the new
variant.
Any
omicron-specifi c
vaccine probably could
not begin to be produced
for another two or three
months, so getting boost-
ers now is a “very import-
ant initial line of defense,”
Dr. Paul Burton, chief med-
ical offi cer for the vac-
cine-maker Moderna, said.
Burton said Moderna and
other vaccine companies are
testing existing COVID-19
vaccines to determine how
eff ective they are against
the omicron variant.
“If we need to manufac-
ture an omicron-specifi c
variant, it’s going to take
some weeks, two to three
months is probably what
we’re looking at to be able
to really begin to manufac-
ture,” Burton told ABC.
Noting that the new vari-
ant, like earlier ones, sprang
up overseas in areas with
lower vaccination rates,
Biden said it was both a
moral imperative and in
America’s self-interest to
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speed up global vaccina-
tions. He noted that the U.S.
has already donated more
than 275 million doses —
more than the rest of the
world combined — and is
on pace to deliver more than
1.1 billion doses globally by
September 2022.
“Now we need the rest
of the world to step up as
well,” Biden said. “We
can’t let up until the world
is vaccinated.”
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