underway, pfizer ceo says he expects the omicron specific vaccine to be ready quickly in march, which is after all only a few weeks away. even before we ve gotten an omicron specific vaccine though, lots of u.s. states that were hit hardest in the early part of the omicron wave are already seeing cases decline rapidly, because we are seeing that in multiple hard-hit states, even while the variant continues to surge in rich states with low vaccination rates, our overall national case count is now starting to drop. we appear to be on the downward side of the curve in terms of the omicron crush. doctor ashish job, dean of the brown university public school of health. put it this way in the washington post, his headline here as you can see is quote, the worst of omicron might have passed but the pandemic isn t over. dr. jha suggest that we use the next few months when we see lower levels of the virus, to get ready, to get ready for the next surge or even the next
under way, pfizer s ceo says he expects the omicron variant vaccine to be ready quickly, in march, which is, after all, only a few weeks away. even before we ve got an omicron variant specific vaccine, though, lots of u.s. states hit hardest in the early part of the omicron variant wave are already seeing cases decline rapidly, because we re seeing that in multiple hard-hit state, even while the variant continues to surge in states with low vaccination rate, our overall national case count is also now starting to drop. we appear to be on the downward side of the curve in terms of the omicron crush. dr. ashish aja, the dean of brown public school of public health. put it this way in the washington post, the head line as you can see it, the worst of omicron might have passed, but the pandemic is not over. dr. aja suggested that we use the next few months when we see the lower level of virus to get ready for the next surge or next
seen before. more than 800 children are being hospitalized daily. children who can t be vaccinated or aren t vaccinated make up a majority of the cases according to dr. rochelle walensky. they are most likely to get sick with covid if family members aren t vaccinated. reporter: some testing labs report they re already overburdened. the university of washington prioritizing tests for those with respiratory symptoms or a new exposure. the university of north carolina in chapel hill also restricting tests to those issuing symptoms and people needing a test before surgery, with the omicron crush not letting up yet. new york city and washington, d.c., maryland, probably floor as well, have already peaked and maybe delaware and rhode island and you ll start to see the curves and the epidemic curves.
because we are seeing that in multiple hard-hit states, even while the variant continues to surge in states with low vaccination rates, our overall national case count is now starting to drop. we appear to be on the downward side of the curve in terms of the omicron crush. doctor ashish jha, dean of the brown university school of public health. he put it this way in the washington post, his headline here as you can see is, quote, the worst of omicron might have passed but the pandemic isn t over. dr. jha suggests that we use the next few months, when we see lower levels of the virus, to get ready, to get ready for the next surge or even the next variant. he says part of that preparation will need to include new vaccines. he also says by the time the next variant arrives, all americans should have access to anti viral treatments immediately after testing positive. are we on track, both for new variant specific vaccines and for the kind of access the