While the new omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus has not yet been detected in the United States, it will 'inevitably' arrive, Dr. Anthony Fauci told ABC News.
"So, you've got to take that into the equation when you're trying to figure out where this virus is really going and what its impact is going to be," Fauci said.
He said U.S. scientists spoke to their counterparts in South Africa on Friday and plan to meet with them again later Sunday"to try and find out if the cases they have identified that clearly are caused by this variant, what is the level of severity in that."Stephanopoulos also pressed Fauci on how susceptible vaccinated people are to the new variant, asking what is known about how resistant omicron is to the currently available vaccines.
"The way you find that out is you get the virus and you put it either as a whole virus or as what we call a pseudovirus, and you take antibodies or serum from people who have been vaccinated, and you determine if those antibodies can neutralize the virus," Fauci said.
When Stephanopoulos broached the possibility of returning to the lockdowns due to the new variant, Fauci said it's"really too early to say."
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