and this is maybe what makes us hopeful. i do understand these are early stages, but i also think it is important that people know what you are seeing. you are seeing people who have been infected or vaccinated, and they re just not very sick, which is exactly what you hope for with the vaccine in general. yes. we don t know over the next few weeks as the tests come back if maybe, maybe the omicron will find ways to evade the vaccine. as of now, it does seem to be offering some protection. that does seem to be key. based on what you re telling me, with mild to moderate cases, with the vaccinated people who have it with very mild cases, what is your assessment of how the world has reacted to the news coming out of south africa about the omicron variant? i think it was an overreaction. i do understand that there s a lot of mutation in this virus. i do understand that it might be much more fast spreading than
welcome back to cnn newsroom. i m rosemary church. if you re just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour. america s toppin infectious disease expert dr. anthony fauci says it could be weeks before we know more about the severity of the omicron variant. he is telling americans to get vaccinated and for those who already are, get a booster shot for extra protection. meanwhile, vaccine makers are testing the effectiveness of current vaccines against the variant. moderna s c.e.o. says it could be two to three months before an omicron-specific vaccine is tested and produced. u.s. president joe biden says additional travel bans are not on the table right now. but if the omicron variant starts to spread in america, it could be a possibility. but dr. anthony fauci says one of the best ways to prevent the variant from spreading is to
mean in terms of spreading it further? look, at the end of the day, we understand that many countries are just trying to ensure that they protect their populations, but africa has for a very long time, rosemary, been talking about vaccine in equities, the whole african continent just has 7% vaccination rates. here in south africa, we re talking about just under 40%. so there is a long way to go here in terms of getting everyone protected. right now we know that the scientific community, the experts, the researchers are looking at clinical data to ascertain what omicron means in terms of vaccine efficacy, in terms of transmissibility, in terms of illness. it is encouraging some anecdotal evidence vaccinated people specifical specifically under 40 seem to have been affected by omicron but only mild symptoms. that is one encouraging piece. as we have ascertained, the pharmaceutical company said they
every unknown would be a negative and the idea there were more questions than answers suggested something unsatisfying in what we re being told. they don t know the answers. so take that as the answer until they say they have the data. i get what you re saying. look, you re entitled to your opinion. i think it s easy to be a monday morning quarterback when you don t know, you don t know. if you re the leader of the free world, what you should do is tell everyone to be as safe and cautious as possible but tell them we don t know and perhaps you should be more careful in your family gatherings and think about whether you want to expose people or be around people. that s all good advice. yes, you are right. people shouldn t, you know, say things they don t know but you don t know, you don t know, chris. i hear you. that the what i m saying i don t want to hear big pharma guys say it should be okay with the vaccine, may not be as much. i d have to see. shut up and, you know, let s see
this variant is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic. we have the best vaccine in the world, the best medicines, the best scientists and we re learning more every single day. so that s what the president is saying and the cdc is also booster recommendations. they are saying everyone 18 and older should get a booster shot. the unvaccinated need to get vaccinated and those who are eligible to get boosted should get boosted. if you get the level of antibody high enough, the protection spills over to those other variants. now, dr. sanjay gupta explained to chris a few minutes ago, why those booster shots are so important right now. if you then boost on top of it, you get a bigger cushion effect, which is why i think now the boosters are being recommended for all adults because even if those antibodies