Fmr. FDA Commissioner Gottlieb addresses Omicron variant

WASHINGTON, D.C. – OCTOBER 25: Dr. Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), testifies during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing concerning federal efforts to combat the opioid crisis, October 25, 2017 in Washington, D.C. 

 

Health experts have warned against jumping to conclusions amid the media frenzy over the Omicron variant. South African Doctor Angelique Coetzee said all Omicron patients so far have shown mild symptoms and none of which required hospitalization.

“It’s extremely mild for us. It’s mild cases. We haven’t admitted anyone,” said Dr. Coetzee. “I spoke with other colleagues of mine, the same picture.”

Dr. Coetzee stressed most of the new cases are mild in both vaccinated and unvaccinated patients, adding the disease is easily being treated at this point. Additionally, President Trump’s former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb discussed how vaccines and boosters should work against the variant.

“It’s almost definitely here already, just looking at the number of cases coming off planes this weekend. It’s almost a certainty that there have been cases that have gotten into the United States,” said Gottlieb.

During an interview on Sunday, he discussed how vaccine makers are confident fully vaccinated individuals, who have also received a booster, would be protected against the Omicron variant. Gottlieb, who is also a Pfizer board member, added there’s no evidence of the new variant making individuals more sick than previous strains.

“Is this more virulent? So, to your question, is this making people more ill? There’s no indication that it is,” said Gottlieb. “And in fact, there’s some anecdotal information off of physicians in South Africa that this could be causing mild illness.”

Although, Chief Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci said otherwise. Fauci said the Omicron variant is something to be concerned about due to the multiple mutations that could potentially evade immunity from past infections or vaccines.

However, Gottlieb predicted a different outcome based on studies testing the blood of vaccinated people against the Omicron variant set to come out next week.

“Now, I would expect that those studies are going to show that the neutralization against this virus declined substantially,” said Gottlieb.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden said on Friday he would not be implementing anymore vaccine mandates.