New York and New Jersey are the seventh- and eighth-most fully vaccinated states in America, respectively. New York has a full vaccination rate of 71 percent, and New Jersey's is 70 percent. More than 10 percent of the population in each state is also partially vaccinated.
During a press briefing on Wednesday, Dec. 15, Walensky said that the new post-vaccine variant is spreading quickly through the United States despite it only being present in the country for around two weeks. It now accounts for about three percent of new COVID-19 infections that are being genetically sequenced nationwide and has been detected in at least 36 states, with hotspots including the highly vaccinated New England region.
"In some areas of the country, the estimates of omicron are even higher, including in New York and New Jersey, where CDC projects that omicron could represent about 13 percent of all cases," said Walensky during the briefing.
Health experts are further suggesting that the reported case rates are likely underreported due to the easy transmissibility of the post-vaccine variant, especially among fully vaccinated communities.
"We expect to see the proportion of omicron cases here in the United States continue to grow in the coming weeks," said Walensky. "Early data suggests that omicron is more transmissible than delta, with a doubling time of about two days."
Because of the status of New York and New Jersey as some of the country's most vaccinated states, the omicron variant will likely keep spreading and overtake the number of COVID-19 cases caused by the delta post-vaccine variant.
Public health officials continue to deny vaccines help omicron spread
The CDC itself has admitted that only 20 percent of omicron cases have been discovered in unvaccinated individuals, with the remaining 80 percent coming from partially or fully vaccinated people. (Related: CDC confirms that "most" cases of omicron are occurring in the fully vaccinated.)
But instead of urging the country's unvaccinated population to hold out and refuse the experimental and dangerous vaccine, Walensky urged the population to get vaccinated.
"It means that it is vital for everybody to get vaccinated and boosted if they are eligible," she said.
"We have the tools to fight this virus, including omicron," claimed White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients during a press briefing. He was talking about the COVID-19 vaccines. "We're in a very different, a stronger place than we were a year ago."
Zients added that it is unlikely COVID-19 lockdowns or harsher restrictions will return – but only if people keep getting vaccinated. "We know how to keep our kids in school and our businesses open [amid the pandemic]," he said.
Even White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci weighed in, stating that omicron has a "rather profound" ability to evade the supposed protection given by two doses of mRNA vaccines. He encouraged people to get booster vaccine doses to enhance their vaccine-acquired immunity "to the tune of a 38-fold increase."
"If we didn't have these tools, I would be telling you to be really, really worried," said Fauci. "Booster vaccine regimens work against omicron."
Fauci further claimed that getting a third dose has been proven effective at preventing hospitalizations due to the post-vaccine omicron variant.
Listen to this Situation Update episode of the "Health Ranger Report," a podcast by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, as he speculates whether the highly infectious post-vaccine strain with milder symptoms could provide the world with natural immunity and make vaccines obsolete.
Learn more about how the post-vaccine omicron variant is spreading rapidly through highly vaccinated communities at Vaccines.news.
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