What we don’t know now and maybe won’t know for weeks is:
- Are the existing vaccines effective against this new variant?
- Is the new variant more transmissible?
- Is an infection with omicron more lethal?
My advice is sit tight. Don’t react to every little bit of news. Remember when Merck announced its anti-viral pill was 90 percent effective at preventing serious illness and death? Well, the FDA approved the drug, which needs to be administered in the first five days of symptoms of illness, announcing it as being 30 percent effective.