WASHINGTON--President Joe Biden urged Americans on Monday not to panic about the new COVID-19 Omicron variant and said the United States was making contingency plans with pharmaceutical companies if new vaccines are needed.
Biden said the country would not go back to lockdowns to stop the spread of Omicron, and he would lay out his strategy on Thursday for combating the pandemic over the winter. He urged people to get vaccinated, get boosters and wear masks.
"This variant is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic," Biden said in remarks at the White House following a meeting with his COVID-19 team. "We're going to fight and beat this new variant," he said.
Omicron has prompted countries across the globe including the United States to limit travel from southern Africa, where the virus was first detected. The World Health Organization said on Monday that it carries a very high risk of infection surges, but said no deaths had yet been linked to the new variant.
Biden said it was inevitable that Omicron cases would emerge in the United States. But White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said the variant should not cause Americans to change their holiday travel plans as long as they are vaccinated and wear masks.
Biden said he believed that existing vaccines would continue to protect against severe disease, but added that his administration was working with vaccine makers Pfizer , Moderna and Johnson & Johnson to develop contingency plans.
"In the event, hopefully unlikely, that 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.
Biden said he would direct the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to make those vaccines available quickly.
Separately, the CDC said all vaccinated Americans aged 18 years and older should get a booster shot - a stronger recommendation than the one it issued last week, when the agency expanded booster eligibility to all adults but stopped short of saying that everybody should get them.
A U.S. travel ban took effect earlier on Monday blocking most visitors from eight southern African nations from entering the country. Earlier flights from South Africa to the United States did not screen passengers after the variant was found.
