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White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci cautioned Wednesday that the U.S. should not take reports of milder disease from the omicron variant of the coronavirus as a "signal that we can pull back from" health restrictions and recommendations.
Speaking at a White House COVID-19 task force briefing, the nation's top infectious disease expert said multiple sources of preliminary data indicate a decreased severity in disease from the variant of concern.
WHITE HOUSE INSISTS CDC LED BY SCIENCE AMID SHIFTING COVID-19 GUIDANCE
However, he said, scientists need more "definitive assessment of similarity with longer-term follow-up" in the U.S. and in different countries.
"But, the big caveat is, we should not be complacent since the increased transmissibility of variant … omicron … might be overridden by the sheer volume of the number of cases that may be a reduced severity, but could still stress our hospital [systems]. Because a certain proportion of a large volume of cases – no matter what – are going to be severe," Fauci explained.
Dr. Anthony Fauci meets with the White House COVID-19 Response Team in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House Campus in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
"Don't take this as a signal that we can pull back from the recommendations that you just heard from Dr. [Rochelle] Walensky – about the need for vaccination, for boostering, for wearing masks and all the other CDC recommendations," he said.
Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that omicron is now the dominant variant of COVID-19 in the nation, making up 95% of new cases.
She told reporters that the U.S had seen a surge of the disease linked to travel over the holidays and urged people to get vaccinated and boosted.
CDC data shows 78.4% of Americans ages 12 and older are fully vaccinated and 71.6 million have received a booster shot.
While there had been discussion over what the definition of being "fully vaccinated" meant with the additional shots, the White House said that there are "no plans" to change it.
White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said people are fully vaccinated if they receive their primary series of vaccines, highlighting that the vast majority of hospitalizations and deaths are among the unvaccinated.
Daily COVID-19 cases in the U.S. have jumped this month as omicron quickly spread and people in New York have waited for hours to get a PCR test or have searched for rapid antigen tests.
The White House said Wednesday the Biden administration's pledge to distribute 500 million rapid tests is already in motion.
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"Overall, we're making significant progress on the 500 million. As of yesterday, as you mentioned, the public contracting process is closed. Deliveries of tests from manufacturers to the U.S. government will begin over the next week or so. Americans will start receiving free tests in the coming weeks," Zients said, noting a website would be set up to help Americans.
He said the White House will continue to do "more and more to increase access to testing given the extreme demand that's been driven by the transmissibility of omicron."