immune escape, and in terms of virulence until scientists have a chance to really examine how our antibodies interact with this virus, and also to see how it behaves out in the wild. and we ll have that data over the next couple of weeks. i think it s also important for the american public to just sort of expect that this variant is already in the united states. so at some point over the next several days, there is going to be some sort of breathless announcement that omicron is in the united states. it s already here, if it s in europe and australia and china, it s already in the united states, it s probably been circulating for many weeks. so does it make any sense to apply these travel restrictions to one part of the world if it s all over the place? i think if this was a brand new virus that we were having trouble detecting and we were struggling to put together tests that could help us identify the presence of the virus, yeah, that might make some sense. but we know that our p
get vaccinated. i m lawyer, not a doctor. if more people can be inif he canned, u infected, up to 50 you have more virus. yes. this is the worst of the virus yet. we re talk about 50 mutations. 30 of which are on the spike pro t protein. we need it to be deadly so we need to be able to attack the spike protein with the antibodies that the vaccine produce. if the spike protein has 30 mutations then the antibodies may not recognize it which means that the worst fear which would immune escape meaning the vaccine doesn t work at all. i m a little more optimistic. it should still work to some
kong. expert warning this contagious variant may be more resistant to vaccines, as it has a high number of mutations. this variant has the two characteristics we ve been most concerned about. which is high transmissibility, and some level of immune escape. reporter: multiple countries including the uk are immediately banning travel from south africa and other countries in the area. vaccinated travelers from there are currently allowed into the u.s., after the biden administration rolled back foreign travel restrictions earlier this month. this all comes as another covid winter wave may be on the horizon here. daily infections are now rising by at least 10% in 35 states. since last week the average of new cases jumped by 18% nationwide. hospitalizations by 6%. dr. tanya gergenroth works in the er at umass memorial fill. as a health care worker,
are associated with immune escape. so that might mean people who had previously had covid 19 and it might also mean, we don t know this for sure yet, but there may be a decrease in the effectiveness of the vaccine. that s not to say that vaccines were to be effective at all, but there may be a decrease, as delta saw a decrease let me bring you some breaking news which we ve just had from our colleagues in news gathering. the uncle mariam mohammed mean has confirmed she was one of the people who died on wednesday when she was drowned along with 26 other people. the family are waiting for the body to be flown back to kurdistan. we ve also spoken to her fiance. we will have more on that over the next couple of hours. the first publicly
your question, is it already here? if it s already in the u.s. and around the world, then i hope the biden administration will go about removing the restriction, but to take that initial proactive step is right to do. i would also want them to imagine the counter-factual. if they did not restrict travel at this point and there was a major spike of cases due to this variant, what would we have said? of course, there are concerns the vaccines might not be effective. as you were saying, it s too early to know that. immune escape is a term you used to. moderna released a statement a short time ago, saying the mutations on this new variant represent a significant potential risk to natural and vaccine-induced immunity. how concerned are you about