Omicron COVID-19 variant is a cause for concern, not panic: US President Joe Biden tells Americans

Biden `applauded` the scientific community in South Africa for quickly notifying the world of the emergence of the Omicron variant.

New Delhi: US President Joe Biden on Monday (November 29, 2021) told Americans that the new COVID-19 variant Omicron is a cause for concern and not a cause for panic. 

While providing an update on Omicron from the White House, Biden 'applauded' the scientific community in South Africa for quickly notifying the world of the emergence of this new variant. 

"This kind of transparency is to be encouraged and applauded because it increases our ability to respond quickly to any new threats," he said.  

He also urged Americans to get fully vaccinated, including booster shots and suggested wearing face masks indoors in public settings as additional protection.

"Sooner or later, we’re going to see cases of this new variant here in the United States.  We’ll have to face this new threat just as we have faced those that have come before it," Biden said.

"This variant is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic. We have the best vaccine in the world, the best medicines, the best scientists.  And we’re learning more every single day," he added.

The US President stated that they will fight Omicron with 'scientific and knowledgeable' actions and not 'chaos and confusion'.

COVID-19 vaccines provide protection against new variant 

Biden reiterated that the current COVID-19 vaccines provide 'at least some protection' against the new variant and the boosters strengthen that protection significantly. 

"Updated vaccinations or boosters are needed to respond to this new variant, we will accelerate their development and deployment with every available tool," he said.

Rest of world need to step up 

Joe Biden noted that the new variant, like earlier ones, sprang up overseas in areas with lower vaccination rates and said that it was both a moral imperative and in America's self-interest to speed up global vaccinations.

"We need to do more than vaccinate Americans. To beat the pandemic, we have to vaccinate the world as well," he said.

He stated that America is leading that effort and has donated over 275 million coronavirus vaccine doses. 

"Now we need the rest of the world to step up as well," Biden added.

The United States, notably, is the worst COVID-19 affected country in the world with over 4 crore cases and 7 lakh deaths.