To stop omicron and other variants, US must help vaccinate the world: ANALYSIS

In an analysis, two doctors explain why to stop omicron and other variants, the United States must help vaccinate the world.

There's still much to learn about the new omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus. We don't yet know how transmissible it is, whether it causes severe illness or how effective existing COVID-19 vaccines are against it.

At the same time, there's one thing about the omicron variant that we do know: If we don't use all our resources to get people around the world vaccinated, variants like omicron will continue to emerge, posing a health threat not only to people outside of the United States, but also to those within our borders.

The emergence of omicron is directly related to our failure to make vaccines equally available to all countries.

As of Nov. 23, just over 7% of people in low-income countries have been vaccinated with at least one dose, compared to nearly 64% in high-income countries, according to the Global Dashboard for Vaccine Equity, an initiative established by the United Nations Development Programme, the World Health Organization and Oxford University.