The Biden administration is reportedly looking to prepare to fast-track authorisaton of revamped COVID-19 vaccines in order to combat the spread of the omicron variant across the country. The FDA said that it will "move swiftly" alongside the CDC in trying to aid with the battle against the latest episode of the pandemic.
More on that here via the Wall St Journal (may be gated).
Well, data on vaccine efficacy and the severity of the omicron variant has been rather scant but the early conclusions seem to be leaning towards two points of view.
The first being that omicron is highly more transmissible and has the ability to infect those who have been fully vaccinated. The second being that omicron is arguably less severe (likely to cause mild symptoms) to those who have been vaccinated.
We'll see if the data continues to support that but mind you, only roughly 60% of the US population have been vaccinated so there are still millions out there who may still be at risk if the virus strain becomes more widespread.
