We are sticking our heads into the sand about the reality of omicron, and the results may be catastrophic.
Omicron took over from delta in the U.S. last month, as it’s a vastly more infectious variant of COVID-19 and our vaccines offer much lower protection from infection without a booster. Still, surveys show that omicron has had very little impact on the willingness of Americans to get a booster – or even get a first vaccine dose.
The only silver lining is that omicron, so far, appears to cause a milder illness than delta. Yet the World Health Organization has warned about the “mildness” narrative because the much faster disease transmission and vaccine ineffectiveness undercut the less severe overall nature of omicron.
Despite this very serious threat, we see little real action. The federal government tightened international travel guidelines, which might have helped if omicron wasn’t already detected in over half of all states.
Pfizer’s anti-viral drug Paxlovid decreases the risk of hospitalization and death from COVID by 89%. The FDA approved ending its trial early, because it would be unethical to withhold the drug from people in the control group. But it dragged its feet on the approval process, only getting around to emergency authorization last week. That delay meant no Paxlovid availability as the omicron wave grew, since it takes many weeks to ramp up production.