The U.S. is re-evaluating its travel ban on a group of southern African countries amid the highly contagious omicron variant, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday, a week after he said the ban would give the U.S. time to prepare for the unknown COVID-19 variant.
Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, also said some early data about the omicron data is “a bit encouraging,” but officials still have plenty to learn about the variant, which has been detected in Massachusetts and in many other states.
The U.S. has taken a lot of heat for its travel ban on South Africa and other southern African countries. Now, the travel ban could be lifted “within a quite reasonable period of time,” Fauci said Sunday.
“That ban was done at a time when we were really in the dark,” the nation’s leading infectious disease expert said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We had no idea what was going on, except that there seemed to have been an explosion of cases of omicron in South Africa.
“So when the ban was put on, it was to give us time to figure out just what is going on,” he added. “Now … as we’re getting more and more information about cases in our own country and worldwide, we’re looking at that very carefully on a daily basis. Hopefully, we’ll be able to lift that ban within a quite reasonable period of time.”
The U.S. has banned noncitizen travel from eight African countries, but not from dozens of other countries that have omicron cases.
“We all feel very badly about the hardship that might have put upon not only South Africa, but the other African countries,” Fauci said. “And for that reason, in real time, literally on a daily basis, we’re re-evaluating that policy.”
Infections have been skyrocketing in South Africa amid the new variant, but hospitalizations so far have not been rising at an alarming rate, according to officials there.
“Thus far, though it’s too early to really make any definitive statements about it, thus far, it does not look like there’s a great degree of severity to it,” Fauci said. “But we have really got to be careful before we make any determinations that it is less severe or it really doesn’t cause any severe illness comparable to delta.
“But, thus far, the signals are a bit encouraging regarding the severity,” he added. “But, again, you got to hold judgment until we get more experience.”
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, continued to urge people to get vaccinated and boostered.
“With delta, when you get a level of antibody and general immune protection high enough, it spills over to protect against other variants,” Fauci said. “So, we’re getting quite good protection against delta when you’re vaccinated, and particularly when you get boostered.
“And that’s the reason why we’re saying, even with a new variant like omicron, if you get boosted, you’re going to get your level up, way up,” he added. “And we feel certain that there will be some degree, and maybe a considerable degree, of protection against the omicron variant if in fact it starts to take hold in a dominant way in this country.”
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