Watch Live: White House holds COVID briefing amid concerns over Omicron variant
CBSN
The White House Coronavirus Response Team is holding a briefing on the latest developments in the Biden administration's response to COVID-19, days after the new Omicron variant was designated a "variant of concern" by the World Health Organization.
The variant has an unusual combination of mutations that may enable it to spread faster, and scientists are trying to determine whether current vaccines are effective in fighting it. Chief medical adviser to the president Dr. Anthony Fauci will be participating in the briefing, as well as Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Jeff Zients, the White House COVID-10 response coordinator.
On Sunday, Fauci told the president it would take "approximately two more weeks" to gather more definitive information about how transmissible Omicron is, how severe it is, and other characteristics.
