GREENSBORO, N.C. — South African doctors recently discovered the omicron variant. Health officials around the world have since scrambled to learn as much as they can about this new strain of COVID-19.
Some doctors worry the omicron variant can evade vaccines. It has more than 30 mutation to its spike protein. The delta variant only has 16 mutations.
Leaders in the United States urged people not to freak out. They said there's still a lot of research that needs to be done.
"This variant is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic," President Joe Biden said Monday.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the president's chief medical advisor, echoed Biden. He said experts need to do more research before any additional steps get taken.
"People talking about lock downs, people talking about that, let's see what the information that we're getting in real-time tells us and we'll make decisions based on the science and the evidence, the way we always do," Dr. Fauci said. "But you want to be prepared to do anything and everything. And that's the reason why we're paying such close attention to this and why we're all over it."
Dr. Cynthia Snider, an infectious disease expert with Cone Health, said the new variant reinforces the need for people to get vaccinated. She said we know what works in the fight against COVID-19, like mask wearing and hand washing.
"We're still going to rely on the public health tools that got us this far," Dr. Snider said.
Dr. Snider said Cone Health has plenty of appointments available. You can sign up for one here.
All vaccine develops say they have plans in place in case the omicron variant is more resistant to the current doses. Pfizer said they can develop a stronger dose of their vaccine in about 100 days.