Omicron could prolong pandemic, still sees ‘year of transition’ ahead

Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC that the omicron variant “extends the timeline” of when Covid will transition from a health emergency to something the world will learn to live with.

“I still think it’s going to be a year of transition,” Gottlieb said Tuesday night on “News with Shepard Smith. “It is likely that we will” go from a pandemic to a more endemic phase “but later.

November 5, the former chief of the FDA and current Pfizer member of the board of directors, told CNBC that the pandemic phase of Covid could be over in the United States by early January.

Recent studies in South Africa said omicron significantly reduces antibody protection in those who have Pfizer /BioNTech Covid vaccine.

However, on Wednesday morning, Pfizer said its own research show a third shot of its omicron neutralized Covid vaccine.

Prior to this news, Gottlieb said the best thing to do was get the vaccine and boost, “I hope three doses of the vaccine are protective enough” because the booster “works like an infection.”

Gottlieb, a current board member of vaccine maker Covid Pfizer, told Shepard Smith he made the prediction when it was speculated that the Delta was the variant to be most worried about. However, the doctor said that omicron represents a “divergent evolution” of Covid and which could alert on the trajectory of the spread in the United States and around the world “even after the population has a lot of immunity to the infection” .

That may be what’s happening in South Africa right now, said Gottlieb, who headed the Food and Drug Administration during the former president. Donald trumpis office time.

“The reason you are seeing less severe illness and fewer hospitalizations compared to cases is that many people in South Africa have been infected with the delta,” he said. “So when they are re-infected with this variant, maybe their delta immunity does not protect against infection but protects them against symptomatic illnesses and serious consequences.”

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said On Tuesday, this omicron appears to be milder, but it could also spread faster, leaving more chances for variants to develop later.

The South African Medical Research Council said on Saturday that most patients hospitalized with the new variant did not need supplemental oxygen. Dr Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House, said preliminary data like this was “a little encouraging.”

Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and serves on the boards of directors of Pfizer, genetic testing startup Tempus, health technology company Aetion, and biotech company Illumina. He is also co-chair of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings‘ and Royal Caribbean‘s “Healthy sail panel.”