Omicron variant: UK prepares for more restrictions due to infection jump: LIVE UPDATES

Vaccine makers are racing to update their COVID-19 shots against the newest coronavirus threat even before it’s clear a change is needed, just in case.

Experts doubt today’s shots will become useless but say it’s critical to see how fast companies could produce a reformulated dose and prove it works -- because whatever happens with omicron, this newest mutant won’t be the last.

Omicron "is pulling the fire alarm. Whether it turns out to be a false alarm, it would be really good to know if we can actually do this -- get a new vaccine rolled out and be ready," said immunologist E. John Wherry of the University of Pennsylvania.

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Kentucky Senator Rand Paul discusses the Biden administration's response to the omicron variant.

Uncertainty surrounding the emerging omicron coronavirus variant have caused mortgage rates to fall slightly, giving homeowners the opportunity to refinance to a lower rate. Mortgage refinance demand increased 9% last week due to the brief drop in interest rates, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

But the time to benefit from historically low rates is running out, as the MBA predicts that rates will rise in the coming months.

"Borrowers are continuing to act on these opportunities, but if rates trend higher as MBA is forecasting, the window of opportunity to refinance will continue to get smaller," said Joel Kan, associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting at the MBA.

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How will the world decide when the pandemic is over?

There’s no clear-cut definition for when a pandemic starts and ends, and how much of a threat a global outbreak is posing can vary by country.

"It’s somewhat a subjective judgment because it’s not just about the number of cases. It’s about severity, and it’s about impact," says Dr. Michael Ryan, the World Health Organization's emergencies chief.

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South African excess deaths nearly doubled in the week beginning Nov. 28 from the previous week, according to a South African Medical Research Council report.

About 2,076 weekly excess deaths from natural causes were recorded, with the cumulative excess deaths since May 3, 2020, reaching close to 276,000 for all age groups.

In the preceding week, 1,091 excess deaths from natural causes were reported.

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Dr. Robert Redfield says the Omicron variant appears to be more transmissible than previous COVID-19 strains due to less prominent symptoms and anticipates vaccines doses will continue to be needed until a more durable vaccine is available.

In this image from undated video provided by AstraZeneca in December 2021, a worker packages the company's Evusheld medication. On Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021, U.S. health officials authorized the new COVID-19 antibody drug for people with serious health problems or allergies who can’t get adequate protection from vaccination. (AstraZeneca via AP)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday issued emergency use authorization for AstraZeneca's Evusheld. 

The vaccine maker's COVID-19 antibody drug is for people with serious health problems or a history of allergies to a COVID-19 vaccine who are unable to get adequate protection from vaccination. 

In a news release, the agency said the authorization was issued for certain adults and individuals 12 years of age and older, weighing at least 40 kilograms (about 88 pounds).

Additionally, the product is only authorized for individuals who are not currently infected with COVID-19 and have not recently been exposed to someone who is.

"Vaccines have proven to be the best defense available against COVID-19. However, there are certain immune compromised individuals who may not mount an adequate immune response to COVID-19 vaccination, or those who have a history of severe adverse reactions to a COVID-19 vaccine and therefore cannot receive one and need an alternative prevention option," Patrizia Cavazzoni, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a statement. "Today’s action authorizes the use of the combination of two monoclonal antibodies to reduce the risk of developing COVID-19 in these individuals." 

The FDA said that one dose of Evusheld administered as two separate consecutive intramuscular injections may be effective for pre-exposure prevention for a period of six months.

"Pre-exposure prevention with Evusheld is not a substitute for vaccination in individuals for whom COVID-19 vaccination is recommended. The FDA has approved one vaccine and authorized others to prevent COVID-19 and serious clinical outcomes associated with a COVID-19 infection, including hospitalization and death. The FDA urges the public to get vaccinated if eligible," it urged.

While antibody drugs have been a standard treatment for COVID-19 infections for more than a year, the AstraZeneca antibody drug is the first intended for long-term prevention against COVID-19 infection – rather than a short-term treatment.

People who received Evusheld had a 77% lower risk of infection than people who received a dummy shot over six months, according to a company study.

Possible side effects of Evusheld include hypersensitivity reactions, bleeding at the injection site, headache, fatigue and cough. The FDA said that known and potential benefits of Evusheld – when used consistent with the terms and conditions of the authorization – outweigh the known and potential risks of the product. 

Antibody drugs are complicated to manufacture and more costly per dose than COVID-19 vaccine shots.

The FDA has authorized three other antibody therapies from Regeneron, Eli Lilly and GlaxoSmithKline, with the U.S. government purchasing hundreds of thousands of doses. All require an IV or injection. They are used to treat people with recent infections who have the highest risk of progressing to severe COVID-19 because of other health issues. Two can be used to prevent infection after a possible coronavirus exposure.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Dr. Manjul Shukla transfers Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine into a syringe, Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021, at a mobile vaccination clinic in Worcester, Mass. Pfizer said Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021, that a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine may protect against the new omicron variant even though the initial two doses appear significantly less effective. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

Pfizer and BioNTech announced Thursday that the companies' COVID-19  had received emergency use authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for individuals 16 years of age and older. 

The dose is to be administered at least six months following completion of the primary series and is the same formulation and dosage strength as the doses in the primary series.

The move marks the first EUA for a COVID-19 vaccine booster in that age group. 

"Today’s decision by the FDA to further expand the Emergency Use Authorization of a booster dose of our COVID-19 vaccine is a critical milestone as we continue to stay vigilant in addressing the virus," Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement . "While new variants, including omicron, emerge across the globe, we believe that the best way to minimize the spread of COVID-19 and any future variants is getting all eligible people fully vaccinated with the first two dose series and a booster dose as recommended."

"The booster vaccination increases the level of immunity and dramatically improves protection against COVID-19 in all age groups studied so far," BioNTech CEO and co-founder Ugur Sahin said. "In the current situation, it is important to offer everyone a booster, particularly against the background of the newly emerging variants such as omicron."

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) speaks during an interview with the Associated Press on Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021, in Atlanta. The CDC on Wednesday gave new details of the first U.S. cases of the new omicron variant of COVID-19. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

More than 40 people in the U.S. have been found to be infected with the omicron variant so far, and more than three-quarters of them had been vaccinated, the chief of the CDC said Wednesday. But she said nearly all of them were only mildly ill.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the data is very limited and the agency is working on a more detailed analysis of what the new mutant form of the coronavirus might hold for the U.S.

"What we generally know is the more mutations a variant has, the higher level you need your immunity to be. ... We want to make sure we bolster everybody’s immunity. And that’s really what motivated the decision to expand our guidance," Walensky said, referencing the recent approval of boosters for all adults.

She said "the disease is mild" in almost all of the cases seen so far, with reported symptoms mainly cough, congestion and fatigue. One person was hospitalized, but no deaths have been reported, CDC officials said.

Some cases can become increasingly severe as days and weeks pass, and Walensky noted that the data is a very early, first glimpse of U.S. omicron infections. The earliest onset of symptoms of any of the first 40 or so cases was Nov. 15, according to the CDC.

The omicron variant was first identified in South Africa last month and has since been reported in 57 countries, according to the World Health Organization.

The first U.S. case was reported on Dec. 1. As of Wednesday afternoon, the CDC had recorded 43 cases in 19 states. Most were young adults. About a third of those patients had traveled internationally.

More than three-quarters of those patients had been vaccinated, and a third had boosters, Walensky said. Boosters take about two weeks to reach full effect, and some of the patients had received their most recent shot within that period, CDC officials said.

Fewer than 1% of the U.S. COVID-19 cases genetically sequenced last week were the omicron variant; the delta variant accounted for more than 99%.

Scientists are trying to better understand how easily it spreads. British officials said Wednesday that they think the omicron variant could become the dominant version of the coronavirus in the United Kingdom in as soon as a month.

The CDC has yet to make any projections on how the variant could affect the course of the pandemic in the U.S. Walensky said officials are gathering data but many factors could influence how the pandemic evolves.

"When I look to what the future holds, so much of that is definitely about the science, but it’s also about coming together as a community to do things that prevent disease in yourself and one another. And I think a lot of what our future holds depends on how we come together to do that," she said.

The CDC is also trying to establish whether the omicron variant causes milder — or more severe — illness than other coronavirus types. The finding that nearly all of the cases so far are mild may be a reflection that this first look at U.S. omicron cases captured mainly vaccinated people, who are expected to have milder illnesses, CDC officials said.

Another key question is whether it is better at evading vaccines or the immunity people build from a bout with COVID-19.This week, scientists in South Africa reported a small laboratory study that found antibodies created by vaccines were not as effective at preventing omicron infections as they were at stopping other versions of the coronavirus.

On Wednesday, vaccine manufacturer Pfizer said that while two doses may not be protective enough to prevent infection, lab tests showed a booster increased levels of virus-fighting antibodies by 25-fold.

Blood samples taken a month after a booster showed people harbored levels of omicron-neutralizing antibodies that were similar to amounts proven protective against earlier variants after two doses, the company said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

FILE - Used syringes in a bin at Swaminarayan School vaccination centre, in London, Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021. The World Health Organization expressed concerns that rich countries spooked by the emergence of the omicron variant could step up hoarding of COVID-19 vaccines and strain global supplies again. It said that could complicate efforts to stamp out the pandemic. The U.N. health agency reiterated its advice to governments against wide-scale use of boosters in their populations so that well-stocked countries instead can send doses to vulnerable people in poorer countries that have largely lacked access to them. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)

The World Health Organization expressed concerns Thursday that rich countries spooked by the emergence of the omicron variant could step up the hoarding of COVID-19 vaccines and strain global supplies again, complicating efforts to stamp out the pandemic.

The U.N. health agency, after a meeting of its expert panel on vaccination, reiterated its advice to governments against the widespread use of boosters in their populations so that well-stocked countries instead can send doses to low-income countries that have largely lacked access to them.

“What is going to shut down disease is for everybody who is especially at risk of disease to become vaccinated,” said Dr. Kate O’Brien, head of WHO’s department of immunization, vaccines and biologicals. “We seem to be taking our eye off that ball in countries.”

Months of short supplies of COVID-19 vaccines have begun to ease over the last two months or so, and doses are finally getting to needier countries — such as through donations and the U.N.-backed COVAX program — and WHO wants that to continue. It has long decried “vaccine inequity” by which most doses have gone to people in rich countries, whose leaders locked down big stockpiles as a precautionary measure.

“As we head into whatever the omicron situation is going to be, there is risk that the global supply is again going to revert to high-income countries hoarding vaccine to protect — in a sense, in excess — their opportunity for vaccination, and a sort of ‘no-regrets’ kind of approach,” O’Brien said.

“It’s not going to work,” she added. “It’s not going to work from an epidemiological perspective, and it’s not going to work from a transmission perspective unless we actually have vaccine going to all countries, because where transmission continues, that’s where the variants are going to come from.”

Some wealthy governments want to leave no stone unturned to get their populations as close to full vaccination as possible. Many questions remain about the severity, transmissibility and resistance to vaccines of the new omicron variant, which emerged last month in southern Africa and has shown early signs of spreading faster than the widespread and deadly delta variant driving the pandemic now.

O'Brien urged a “rational, global perspective” about “what’s actually going to shut down this pandemic.”

“We have the tools at hand, we have the choices we can make, and the next days and weeks are really going to determine what direction the world decides it’s going to go in, on omicron,” she said.

Nevertheless, WHO says individuals in rich countries should follow the policies of their governments, some of which are enticing people to get boosters, which are additional doses aimed to buck up immunity from earlier jabs that wanes over time.

“An individual in a country, their dose is not going to get shipped to another country because they they don’t take the dose,” O'Brien said. "It is country governments, not individuals, who are making decisions that could influence the equitable distribution of vaccines to other countries.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Signs about COVID-19 testing are seen outside of a CVS store in Buffalo Grove, Ill., Friday, Dec. 3, 2021. A week after Thanksgiving, Illinois on Thursday reported this year's highest daily total of new coronavirus cases, while COVID-19 hospitalizations have risen higher than any point since last winter. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Florida and Illinois are the latest states to announce cases of the omicron COVID-19 variant in the country. 

The new cases were reported a day after Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky said Tuesday during a White House briefing that 19 states had confirmed cases of the "variant of concern." 

In Florida, a case was detected at a Tampa hospital and officials are working to confirm another in St. Lucie County, Fox 35 reported.

"Florida stands ready to respond through our system of prevention and treatment," the state's department of health said in a statement. "Rather than focusing on one solution, the state of Florida will continue to adapt as necessary to protect public health as we have done with previous variants of concern and throughout the COVID-19 response." 

Illinois also announced its first known omicron case. 

In a joint statement, the Illinois and Chicago departments of public health said the case was identified in a Chicago resident who had been a contact of another confirmed omicron case from a different state who had visited the area."

The Chicago resident – fully vaccinated with a booster dose – did not require hospitalization, is improving and has been self-isolating since their symptoms began. Public health officials continue to perform contact tracing," the departments wrote. 

Gov. J.B. Pritzker called on residents of the states to follow COVID-19 protocols including getting booster shots, masking up indoors, getting tested and keeping hands clean. 

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot echoed that message, saying it is "crucial" residents continue to get vaccinated and receive boosters.

Cases have also been reported across the nation, from New York to Hawaii, with the first known case of omicron  detected in a San Francisco resident last week.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

FILE - Dr. Manjul Shukla transfers Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine into a syringe, Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021, at a mobile vaccination clinic in Worcester, Mass. Pfizer said Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021, that a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine may protect against the new omicron variant even though the initial two doses appear significantly less effective. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

A new study led by the Africa Health Research Institute reportedly suggests that the omicron COVID-19 variant escapes antibody immunity induced by two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. 

The initial South Africa data from 12 patients also showed that considerable immunity is retained in individuals who were fully vaccinated and had been previously infected. Six of the participants had no previous record of SARS-CoV-2 infection nor detectable nucleocapsid antibodies indicative of previous infection. 

There was an observed 41-fold decline in vaccine-induced neutralizing antibodies compared to the ancestral strain of the virus, the researchers said.

However, those with previous infection who had received two doses of the vaccine were mostly able to neutralize the variant and had higher levels of antibodies.

The results, the international authors wrote in an online manuscript, showed "much more extensive escape" but incomplete escape in those people. "Previous infection, followed by vaccination or booster is likely to increase the neutralization level and likely confer protection from severe disease in omicron infection," they concluded. The study did not include people who had received booster doses.

"The clinical implications of these important laboratory data need to be determined. It is likely that lesser vaccine-induced protection against infection and disease would be the result. Importantly, most vaccinologists agree that the current vaccines will still protect against severe disease and death in the face of omicron infection. It is therefore critical that everyone should be vaccinated," Africa Health Research Institute executive director Willem Hanekom said in an accompanying statement.

The research has been submitted to preprint server medRxiv and the results have not been peer-reviewed.

Responding to a tweet from Africa Health Research Institute professor Alex Sigal detailing the results, World Health Organization (WHO) chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said a drop in antibody response of vaccinated people to the variant of concern had been expected. "As expected, large drop in neutralization of #OmicronVirus by BioNtech vaccinated sera. This does not mean the vaccines will not work- T cell immunity likely to persist. Await more studies," she tweeted.

The WHO has said current vaccines remain effective, even as cases in South Africa have surged.

All of this comes a day before vaccine-makers Pfizer and BioNTech announced Wednesday that three doses of their vaccine "neutralize" the variant and that two doses "show significantly reduced neutralization titers."

"Data indicate that a third dose of BNT162b2 increases the neutralizing antibody titers by 25-fold compared to two doses against the omicron variant; titers after the booster dose are comparable to titers observed after two doses against the wild-type virus which are associated with high levels of protection," the companies said in a joint statement.

U.K. prime minister, during his bilateral meeting with Hassanal Bolkiah, Brunei's sultan, earlier this month. (Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced tighter restrictions Wednesday to stem the spread of the omicron variant, urging people in England to again work from home and mandating COVID-19 passes for entrance into nightclubs and large events.

Johnson said it was time to impose stricter measures to prevent a spike of hospitalizations and deaths as the new coronavirus variant spreads rapidly in the community.

"It has become increasingly clear that omicron is growing much faster than the previous delta variant and is spreading rapidly all around the world," he said in a press conference.

"Most worryingly, there is evidence that the doubling time of omicron could currently be between two and three days."

Johnson has faced recent backlash after video emerged that showed staff joking about a lockdown Christmas party at his residence. he apologized but said he was "assured there was no party and that no Covid rules were broken," the BBC reported.

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