omicron, public health officials continue to stress the importance of getting vaccinated. tonight, nearly 25% of americans have yet to get a first dose. what keeps me up at night around covid is the number of people who have not yet gotten their vaccine. it is absolutely our best way out of this pandemic. reporter: scientists here in the u.s. are also currently studying vaccine effectiveness against omicron. dr. fauci said today we could have those results in about a week. norah. o donnell: nikki battiste, thank you. well, let s go now to chicago where actor jussie smollett was back on the witness stand saying, there was no hoax. he is sticking to his story that he was the victim of an antigay and racist attack while prosecutors say he staged the whole thing to increase his fame and fortune. cbs charlie de mar has more from the courthouse.llet rned witness stand in his own defense, maintaining his
any russian aggression could spell doom for the nord stream 2 gas pipeline which goes from russia to germany and is crucial to russian leaders. norah. o donnell: and that is significant. thank you, nancy cordes, at the white house. and we re going it turn now to the other big story here in america, the covid pandemic, closing in on 50 million confirmed cases, public health officials believe the actual number is significantly higher. a new surge of infections and hospitalizations is being driven by the delta variant as tonight we re learning more about the new omicron strain from the scientists who first detected it. here s cbs nikki battiste. reporter: tonight, the cbs news bureau in south africa has learned the pfizer vaccine may only offer a partial shield against the new omicron variant. an early study by the south african scientist who first detected the variant shows omicron s ability to eveiled the pfizer vaccine is robust, but not complete, and that a booster