U.S. President Joe Biden said 800,000 deaths due to Covid-19 was a "tragic milestone."
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty ImagesThe Omicron coronavirus variant has spread to make up close to 3% of sequenced Covid-19 cases in the U.S., new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed.
The new variant accounted for 2.9% of sequenced cases in the week to Dec. 11, up from just 0.4% the previous week and 0.1% the week before that. The data suggest the new variant is beginning to cut into the dominance of the Delta variant, which has fallen to 96.7% from 99.6% since just three weeks ago.
CDC officials warned a tidal wave of infections, both Omicron and Delta, could hit the U.S. as soon as next month, in a briefing Tuesday, according to reports.
The spread of Omicron so far varies from region to region, according to the CDC’s variant proportions tracker. In New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, it made up 13.1% of cases in the week to Dec. 11, while in the Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming region it made up 0.0%.
The U.S. passed 800,000 deaths due to Covid-19 late Wednesday, and President Joe Biden urged people to get their booster shot and follow advice around mask wearing.
Total Covid-19 cases in the U.S. during the pandemic climbed above 50 million earlier this week, with deaths now nearing 800,500, according to the Johns Hopkins Covid-19 tracker.
Biden called it a “tragic milestone” in a statement released late Wednesday.
“As we head into the winter and confront a new variant, we must resolve to keep fighting this virus together. This means getting vaccinated and getting your booster shot, and taking other prevention measures, such as masking,” he said.
In other news, the vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac failed to produce sufficient antibodies to neutralize the Omicron variant, a Hong Kong study found.
Researchers at the Department of Microbiology at the University of Hong Kong tested serum antibodies in 25 people who previously had two doses of Sinovac. None of them were found to have sufficient antibodies to neutralize the new variant. Of the 25 people who had two doses of the vaccine from Pfizer (ticker: PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX), five had neutralizing antibodies. Researchers said the study implied that a third dose of the vaccine was needed.
Sanofi (SAN.Paris) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.London) announced positive preliminary data for the use of their Covid-19 vaccine candidate as a booster. A study showed increased neutralizing antibodies when used as a booster following all existing vaccines across all age groups tested, the companies said.
However, they delayed data on their vaccine candidate’s Phase 3 trial until the first quarter of 2022, needing more time to provide the necessary data to regulators for a booster vaccine submission.
The European Union’s drug regulator has recommended a booster dose of Johnson & Johnson ‘s (JNJ) Covid-19 vaccine be given to adults at least two months after a first dose.
The European Medicines Agency said it follows data showing a booster dose of the vaccine at least two months after the first dose in adults led to a rise in antibodies. The EMA’s human-medicines committee added that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine may also be given as a booster dose after two doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or the Moderna (MRNA) vaccines.
Write to Callum Keown at callum.keown@dowjones.com
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December 15, 2021 at 09:48PM
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Omicron Variant Makes Up 3% of U.S. Covid Cases, CDC Data Show - Barron's
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