The former head of the Food and Drug Administration said Sunday that he predicts there will be a “backstop” to prevent a new strain of the omicron variant of COVID-19 from becoming a problem.
“A fully boosted person may be more protected against this new variant than they were against the original strain of omicron,” said Scott Gottlieb on CBS’s Face the Nation with host Margaret Brennan. “So far, based on what we’ve seen out of Denmark and the U.K., which are collecting very good data on this, it doesn’t appear to be a more virulent strain.”
Gottlieb said that if you’ve previously been infected by the omicron variant of the coronavirus, then “you should be protected” from this strain.
“So the mutations in this new version are not in the receptor-binding domain on the spike protein. That’s the portion of the spike protein that we develop our best antibodies against that neutralize the virus,” Gottlieb said. “Most of the mutations are in a separate part of the spike protein called the N-terminal domain. So, if you had omicron infection, you should have protection against subsequent infection from this new variant.”
FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER SAYS CHILD VACCINE MANDATES ARE ‘MULTIYEAR EFFORT’
.@margbrennan: If you had Omicron can you be reinfected with the new coronavirus strain?@ScottGottliebMD: “If you had Omicron infection, you should have subsequent protection from this new variant.” pic.twitter.com/HYwKI2cBc9
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) January 30, 2022
Gottlieb predicted that as COVID-19 cases continue to decline in “parts of the Northeast, Florida,” and the “mid-Atlantic,” there is the possibility that the new strain will start to pick up, which will stop the current decline.
“The decline will happen nonetheless,” Gottlieb said. “Right now, it represents probably about 5% of infections in the U.S., and we have so much omicron immunity,” which he said will prevent the new variant from “really taking off.”
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As of Jan. 25, there had been roughly 100 cases of the new strain of omicron variant, labeled BA. 2, according to a Newsweek report.
“As of 24.01.2022, the BA. 2 descendent lineage, which differs from BA. 1 in some of the mutations, including in the spike protein, is increasing in many countries,” the World Health Organization said in a description of the variant. “Investigations into the characteristics of BA. 2, including immune escape properties and virulence, should be prioritized independently (and comparatively) to BA. 1.”
As of Sunday, the United States has reported a total of 74,211,771 coronavirus-related cases, along with a total of 882,964 deaths, according to the New York Times COVID-19 map and case count tracker.
