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MIAMI (CBSMiami/CNN) – The new Omicron variant of the coronavirus has been confirmed in at least 14 countries prompting new fears of another COVID wave as President Joe Biden’s ban on travel from South Africa and seven other southern African countries goes into effect Monday. Restrictions have also been renewed for travel from southern Africa to many European countries.
There have been no confirmed cases in the United States yet, but Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said it might already be here. He said Monday it is “inevitable” that it will make its way into the country.
Canada’s health minister said that country’s first two cases of Omicron were found in Ontario after two individuals who had recently traveled from Nigeria tested positive.
President Biden is urging Americans to get vaccinated, including booster shots, as he seeks to quell concerns over the newly identified Omicron variant.
Dr. Fauci says there is no reason to panic.
“We should not be freaking out. We should be doing the things that we know work when you’re dealing with a pandemic virus.”
The World Health Organization says it could still take some time to get a full picture of the threat posed by Omicron, designated as a variant of concern. The U.N. health agency issued a statement Sunday that boiled down to “We don’t know much yet.”
It contains more than 30 mutations to the spike protein, prompting concerns from some scientists it could be vaccine-resistant.
Multiple studies are currently underway. While scientists say there is reason to be concerned over the variant, they stress there is still a lot we don’t know — including whether the variant is indeed more contagious, whether it causes more severe disease or what its effects on vaccine efficacy may be.
In a Friday news release, Moderna said it was rapidly working to test the ability of its vaccine to neutralize the variant and data is expected in the coming weeks.
The strain includes mutations “seen in the Delta variant that are believed to increase transmissibility and mutations seen in the Beta and Delta variants that are believed to promote immune escape,” Moderna said. “The combination of mutations represents a significant potential risk to accelerate the waning of natural and vaccine-induced immunity.”
If its current vaccine and booster are insufficient against the variant, one possible solution is boosting people with a larger dose, which Moderna said it is testing. The company is also evaluating two multivalent booster candidates to see if they provide better protection against Omicron — both of which include some of the viral mutations present in the variant.
Moderna said it is also testing an Omicron-specific booster.
“For several days, we have been moving as fast as possible to execute our strategy to address this variant,” Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in the news release.
AstraZeneca also said it was looking to understand the impact Omicron has on its vaccine, which is not currently authorized for use in the US.
“AstraZeneca is also already conducting research in locations where the variant has been identified, namely in Botswana and Eswatini, that will enable us to collect real world data of Vaxzevria against this new virus variant,” a spokesperson for the company said Friday.
The company also said it is testing its antibody treatment, AZD7442, against the variant. AstraZeneca asked the US Food and Drug Administration in October to authorize emergency use of the treatment.
Scientists at BioNTech, the German company that partnered with Pfizer to make its COVID-19 vaccine, are also investigating the impact of the variant on their shot, with data expected within the next couple of weeks.
A Johnson & Johnson spokesperson said in a statement the company was also testing the effectiveness of its vaccine against Omicron.
(©2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company, contributed to this report.)