Arsenal against Omicron weakening

Omicron is very good at evading the immune protection conferred by vaccines, natural infection and agents such as monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) authorized to prevent serious infections, according to David Ho, MD, the director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center and the Clyde ’56 and Helen Wu Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, in New York City. This is one reason COVID-19 cases continue to surge around the country, and 95% can be attributed to the omicron variant, according to the CDC. On Jan. 5, a total of 705,264 new cases were reported—more than doubling the January 2021 peak. This surge in cases has led to an increase in hospitalizations. Between Jan. 3 and 9, hospitalizations due to COVID-19 rose 32.5%, and are averaging about 14,917 per day, according to the CDC data tracking. Many new cases are among vaccinated people, but the large majority of...