We have the vaccine already here. how is it being taken there. jim, i know across the world people are bracing for that storm of omicron. here in the uk it s already arrived. we are absolutely in the eye of the storm. record-breaking case numbers in recent days. tens of thousands of people testing positive for covid-19. the prime minister has vowed no new restrictions before christmas. health officials taking steps to bolster their defenses against omicron. you mentioned one of the key ones there, young people aged between 5 and 11 now approved for a child vaccination from pfizer. authorities are going to start recommending that to children in that age group who are particularly vulnerable. you also now have the covid isolation period being reduced from ten days to seven days as long as you test negative on a lateral flow test for the sixth and seventh day. that s to keep the country running essentially because so many critical services are not running due to the number of positive c
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Seen from south africa, israel, europe and early data in the u.s., do you greet with dr. off fit that omicron is looking like for vaccinated people and perha perhaps, do you share that view. i m optimistic that the vaccines we have protect well from severe illness, they re protected against symptomatic milder illness, but a booster dose will help to reduce symptomatic illness as well. it s for this reason that i really agree with what president biden and many other elected leaders are saying which is unvaccinated people really need to get vaccinated. ideally they are not mixing with other people over the holidays. if you are vaccinated, you shouldn t have to cancel your holiday plans. vaccinated people have been through so much, they ve given up so much. there s this sense of exhaustion all around us. we can t keep going without
Seeing our loved ones and there is a way for us to do that while reducing our risk. president biden was very clear about that. he said, if you re vaccinated, go enjoy your holidays. i do wonder and granting, it s early, if this data bears out, that omicron for the vaccinated causes less severe, perhaps asymptomatic cases by and large, does that mean that the peak of this may not be as bad as some of the worst projections in recent weeks? well, that s the hope. the hope is that omicron, it s speaking through our population in places where it s hit. there s a very sharp rise as there was in south africa, uk and other places. but the hope is we re also going to have a sharp decline and also that there is a decoupling between infections and hospitalizations and deaths. that s what we re seeing in israel. that s, in fact, what we ve seen in south africa. i hope that will bear out in the
Very good wednesday morning. i m jim sciutto. to be clear. no shutdowns, no lockdowns. right now the u.s. is seeing a big increase in new covid infections. with that, a major surge in some parts of the country in demand for testing. president biden laid out his plan to fight the fast-spreading omicron variant, a plan which includes several new measures to expand both testing and vaccinations. as americans begin to gather for the holidays, president biden reassured them he will not close down the country, saying those who are vaccinated can celebrate safely while sending a sharp message to those who still don t have their shots. almost everyone who has died from covid-19 in the past many months has been unvaccinated.