Your Monday Briefing: Omicron Evades Many Vaccines

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/19/briefing/your-monday-briefing-omicron-evades-many-vaccines.html

A growing body of preliminary research suggests most Covid vaccines offer almost no defense against infection from the highly contagious Omicron variant. The only vaccines that appear to be effective against infections are those made by Pfizer and Moderna, reinforced by a booster, which are not widely available around the world.

Other vaccines — including those from AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and vaccines manufactured in China and Russia — do little to nothing to stop the spread of Omicron, early research shows. Because most countries have built their inoculation programs around these vaccines, the gap could have a profound impact on the course of the pandemic.
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Two leading COVID-19 drugs may not work against omicron variant

https://myfox8.com/news/coronavirus/two-leading-covid-19-drugs-may-not-work-against-omicron-variant/

For more than a year, antibody drugs from Regeneron and Eli Lilly have been the go-to treatments for early COVID-19, thanks to their ability to head off severe disease and keep patients out of the hospital.

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But both drugmakers recently warned that laboratory testing suggests their therapies will be much less potent against omicron, which contains dozens of mutations that make it harder for antibodies to attack the virus. And while the companies say they can quickly develop new omicron-targeting antibodies, those aren’t expected to launch for at least several months.

A third antibody from British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline appears to be the best positioned to fight omicron. But Glaxo’s drug is not widely available in the U.S., accounting for a small portion of the millions of doses purchased and distributed by the federal government. U.S. health officials are now rationing scarce drug supplies to states.

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Fauci: Record coronavirus deaths in US from omicron likely

https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/586480-fauci-record-coronavirus-deaths-in-us-from-omicron-likely

“Do you expect new record high numbers for cases? And what about hospitalizations and deaths?” Tapper asked.

“Yes, well, unfortunately, Jake, I think that that is going to happen,” Fauci confirmed. “We are going to see a significant stress in some regions of the country on the hospital system, particularly in those areas where you have a low level of vaccination, which is one of the reasons why we continue to stress the importance of getting those unvaccinated people vaccinated.”


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Sen. Warren tests positive for Covid-19
https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/19/politics/elizabeth-warren-covid-positive/index.html

"I regularly test for COVID & while I tested negative earlier this week, today I tested positive with a breakthrough case. Thankfully, I am only experiencing mild symptoms & am grateful for the protection provided against serious illness that comes from being vaccinated & boosted," she tweeted. "As cases increase across the country, I urge everyone who has not already done so to get the vaccine and the booster as soon as possible - together, we can save lives."