COVID-19 Update

New variants develop wherever there's a large unvaccinated population.

Three days ago:

And now, WaPo: (freebie)

Warnings omicron could reduce vaccine effectiveness spook global markets

Coronavirus vaccine maker Moderna set off alarm bells in financial markets Tuesday by warning that current vaccines may be less effective at combating the omicron variant compared with previous strains. “I think it’s going to be a material drop. I just don’t know how much because we need to wait for the data. But all the scientists I’ve talked to … [say] ‘this is not going to be good,’” Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s chief executive, told the Financial Times in an interview Tuesday.

U.S. stock benchmarks headed lower at the opening bell Tuesday morning. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.9 percent, shedding over 200 points, and the S&P 500 dropped 0.67 percent while the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.4 percent.

Markets in Europe also slumped. U.S. oil prices dropped more than 3 percent and shares of airlines and cruise lines, considered some of the most vulnerable to virus-related disruptions, also took a dive in early trading.

Bancel also said the variant may mean that vaccines will need to be modified next year. Germany’s BioNTech and its partner Pfizer have said they are working to understand what level of protection their vaccines offer and how to adapt them. Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac says it is working with international partners to collect and analyze samples of omicron in an effort to determine how effective its inactivated vaccine, CoronaVac, is against the variant.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, which makes the popular antibody cocktail used as a treatment on patients who have contracted covid-19, may be less effective against the omicron variant, its makers also said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, omicron is threatening the U.S. economy’s rebound and growth on a global scale, experts say. The chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome H. Powell, warned in remarks prepared for congressional testimony Tuesday that “the recent rise in COVID-19 cases and the emergence of the Omicron variant pose downside risks to employment and economic activity and increased uncertainty for inflation.” He added that “greater concerns about the virus” could exacerbate existing problems, such as labor shortages and supply chain struggles.

Here’s what to know

• Although the omicron variant’s mutations have concerned scientists, much remains unknown about its tangible impact: “It’s a complete black box,” one virologist told The Washington Post.
• President Biden called the omicron coronavirus variant a “cause for concern” but “not a cause for panic.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention significantly expanded its recommendations for booster shots, saying that all adults 18 and older should get them.
• South Africa, among the first countries to identify the variant, is preparing for a potential surge in infections. An epidemiologist there warned in a government briefing that the country could top 10,000 cases per day by the end of the week.