For Now, Boosters Are Our Best Defense Against Omicron
Living through the COVID-19 pandemic has never been easy, but the hardest psychological challenge might be all the uncertainty. That’s why it’s been particularly frustrating to watch Omicron emerge—right before the holidays, no less! A few weeks after the variant was first detected in South Africa, we still don’t have a clear picture of how dangerous it is, and the extent to which vaccines and the population’s immunity will protect the world.
Still, there have been some promising recent developments. Yesterday, Pfizer-BioNTech reported the first results of studies that examine how well their vaccine protects against Omicron. As my colleague Alice Park reports, the companies’ booster shot appeared to neutralize the variant. Blood samples from people who had received the booster showed a 25-fold increase in antibodies against Omicron when compared to blood from people who had only received two doses. There are, however, important caveats: the version of Omicron used in the study was so-called pseudoviruses made in a lab, and the vaccines still need to be tested against the actual variant virus.
Encouragingly, booster shots will soon be available to more people. As Alice also reported, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today authorized Pfizer-BioNTech’s boosters for 16- and 17-year-olds, enabling them to receive booster shots six months after their initial vaccine course. Dr. Janet Woodcock, the FDA commissioner, emphasized that the U.S. “can’t give up” on preventative measures ahead of the holidays. “With both the Delta and Omicron variants continuing to spread, vaccination remains the best protection against COVID-19,” Woodcock said.
In short: yes, there is still a lot of uncertainty about Omicron. However, the evidence we do have clearly points to one strategy: getting as many people vaccinated as possible, and having vaccinated people recieve booster shots. The vaccines we have are very safe, and have effectively combatted the variants that have emerged so far. To be prepared for Omicron, they’re the right place to start.
More than 267.8 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 10 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 5.2 million people have died. On Dec. 8, there were 673,503 new cases and 7,974 new deaths confirmed globally.
Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
And here's every country that has reported over 5 million cases:
The U.S. had recorded more than 49.5 million coronavirus cases as of 10 a.m. E.T. today. More than 731,200 people have died. On Dec. 8, there were 151,739 new cases and 1,714 new deaths confirmed in the U.S.
Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of Dec. 9, 10 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
COVID-19 is the “worst crisis for children” that UNICEF has experienced in its 75 years of existence, the agency said in a report released yesterday. The pandemic is “rolling back virtually every measure of progress for children,” according to the report, and 100 million more children are now living in poverty, a 10 percent increase since 2019. A wide range of threats have been worsened by the pandemic, including increases in child labor and marriages, and a lack of access to school. Plus, an additional 9 million children could face wasting—which is the most dangerous form of malnutrition—by the end of next year.
There are some warning signs that the effort to get more children vaccinated in the U.S. has stalled. Only about half of 12- to 17-year-olds are vaccinated, and the pace of inoculation in that age group has dropped significantly, according to a poll by Kaiser Family Foundation released today. Parents with kids ages 5 to 11 are even more reluctant to have their children vaccinated; as of November, only 16% said their child has gotten the shot, while 13% plan on making an appointment soon. An additional 32% plan to “wait and see” about getting their child vaccinated, and 29% said their child would definitely not get the shot.
While the Biden Administration has emphasized the importance of rapid coronavirus tests, the kits remain costly and hard to find in many parts of the U.S., lagging behind European and Asian countries, where free or low-cost tests are widely distributed, the Washington Post reports. President Biden announced a plan last week to require private insurers to cover these tests, but critics have faulted the plan for requiring consumers to first purchase the tests and then present a receipt for reimbursement.
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin apologized yesterday after she was photographed dancing maskless at a Helsinki nightclub the day after she had contact with a government official who tested positive for COVID-19, the New York Times reports. While Finland does not require fully vaccinated people like Marin to isolate after contact with someone who tests positive, guidelines for governmental ministers and employees recommend limiting contact with other people right after an exposure. “I should have used better judgment and double-checked the guidance given to me,” Marin said in a statement on Facebook.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com. If you have specific questions you'd like us to answer, please send them to covidquestions@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Tara Law and edited by Angela Haupt.
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