vaccine, we will likely not be able to prevent infections with a new vaccine, it would take about 100 days to develop a new and distribute a new vaccine or start to distribute a new vaccine. while the omicron variant is already here, full extent of its potential to wreak havoc is still unknown. what we know is early data, even mutation data are telling us that this may well be a more transmissible variant than delta, so this is going to take time to sort out. so the biden administration efforts to limit that winter surge includes travel by making international travelers show proof of a negative covid-19 test the day before they travel when they head into the u.s. boris, christi, if you wonder about domestic travel in the u.s., no restrictions yet. thank you for following through with all of the details. countries in europe are enforcing additional
omicron could out pace delta to become the most common variant. mutation data say this may be more chantransmissible than del. this will take time to sort out. dr. jonathan reiner, thanks for joining us. it s not just cases. hospitalizations are also up. the delta variant is dominant now. but more omicron cases are cropping up. the cdc director is sounding the alarm. there is a lot we don t know but are you worried by what you re seeing at this moment? well, i ll worry about delta and i m worried about the 17% of american adults that have been vaccinated in the united states, the 45 million people that will get infected if they don t get
this variant does spread faster. early mutation data are telling us this may well be a more transmissible variant than delta. we do think it is quite infectious, quite transmissible because south africa has been reporting a very rapid increase in the number of cases. in fact, they ve been doubling every day. reporter: still unclear if it partially evades vaccines, but the other thing that s becoming clearer is that people who were infected with other versions of the sars-cov-2 virus can be reinfected with this one. reporter: new travel restrictions kick in 12:01 a.m. monday. everyone coming into the u.s. will have to test negative within 24 hours of departure. some experts also advocating domestic travel restrictions. when you go through security, you show your vaccine card. if you haven t been vaccinated,
the world health organization. that is great. i m sorry it took omicron to make people understand how serious this is, because we have been saying and you ve been saying that we need to vaccinate the whole world so that we don t give the virus a chance to turn itself into a more effective version. reporter: to make this, they can modify current vaccine formula, but it will take time. if the development of vaccine a new vaccine, we will most likely not be able to prevent the first phase of detections with a new vaccine, because it will take about 100 days, yeah, to develop a new and distribute any vaccine or start to distribute any new vaccine. reporter: the omicron variant is already here, the full extent of its potential to wreak havoc is still unknown. what we do know early data, even mutation data are telling us that this may well be a more
tonight, the cdc director, dr. rochelle walensky is warning that the omicron variant might might become the dominant strain of coronavirus here in the united states. cnn s nick watt has the latest. reporter: omicron is in the united states. that mild case in minnesota. he was fully vaccinated and boosted. so far, i am reassured that this will be just a mild illness, if any illness at all, for those of us that are fully vaccinated. but there are a lot of people in the u.s. who are unvaccinated and our hospitals cannot take that kind of surge, again. reporter: and it appears, this variant, first detected in southern africa, does spread faster. early data and even, um, mutation data are telling us that this may well be a more transmissible variant than delta. we do think that despite infection quite transmissible, a very rapid increase in the number of cases, in fact