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- Pfizer's top scientist told Insider how the company plans to approach the Omicron variant;
- Omicron didn't necessarily emerge in South Africa, the country was just the first to identify it;
- An FDA advisory panel narrowly backed Merck's COVID-19 antiviral pill molnupiravir.
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Pfizer's top scientist Mikael Dolsten tells us the 2 factors that will determine if Omicron is a true threat and shares Pfizer's worst-case-scenario plan
Omicron could require newvaccines if two factors are met,Pfizer 's top scientist told Insider.- The new variant would need to outcompete Delta globally and reduce protection from the current vaccine.
- Pfizer's Mikael Dolsten shared the plan to have an Omicron-specific shot ready by March 2022.
Southern Africa is not a hotbed of variants — it's just very good at sequencing and spotting them
- Scientists in
South Africa were the first to raise alarm bells about Omicron, alerting the WHO last Wednesday. - But that doesn't necessarily mean the variant came from southern Africa, it's more of an indication of the region's robust surveillance system.
- "We just rang the bell, which allowed everybody else to realize that actually this was maybe going on unnoticed," one South African virus detective said.
An FDA expert panel narrowly supports the first COVID-19 pill but suggests restrictions on its use driven by safety concerns
- The first
COVID-19 pill is closer to reality, as an FDA panel voted in favor on Tuesday. - But the group also recommended limiting its use to people at high risk of severe disease.
- Merck's drug reduced hospitalizations and deaths by 30% compared to a placebo.
More stories we're reading:
- Dr. Anthony Fauci says we should do 8 things to deal with the Omicron variant (Insider)
- A new study finds that some hospitals are charging much more for medical scans compared to others (The Wall Street Journal)
- Supreme Court shuts down request to let Massachusetts hospital staff sidestep vaccine mandate (Insider)
- An energy company is trying to start drilling next to a day care in Texas, despite risks to kids' health (Texas Observer)
-Leah