Omicron: 'Vaccines still prevent serious illness, hospitalization, and death'

Dr. Amesh Adalja, Senior Scholar Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, joins Yahoo Finance Live to weigh in on corporate vaccine mandates being debated in the Supreme Court, in addition to discussing the latest information regarding vaccinations, transmissibility, and testing.

Video Transcript

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: And of course, all of this coming on the same day the Supreme Court is weighing President Biden's vaccine mandate for large companies I want to bring in Dr. Amesh Adalja, Senior Scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Doctor, thanks so much for being with us.

I know that the vaccine mandates were or are in place to reduce the spread of the virus, but so far there's really no evidence that the vaccines are reducing infections from the fast-spreading Omicron. So I guess my question is does Omicron make those mandates obsolete?

AMESH ADALJA: I definitely think that Omicron makes transmission stopped by the vaccines a much harder prospect, because we know that this variant has immune-evasive properties, can get around some of the protection that the vaccines provide. But it still remains the case that vaccines prevent serious illness, hospitalization, and death. And if you're an employer, you should want your employee workforce to be resilient to those severe consequences of disease.

So I think that it's a different way to think about vaccine requirements. I'm unclear what will happen with the OSHA requirement. I think that may get struck down by the Supreme Court. But clearly, for health care workers and the CMS requirement, that's a different avenue that the government has taken. And I think that does look like it may hopefully stand, because I think it is important for health care workers to have the highest vaccination protection possible.

- Doctor what do you think comes next for us in this country? You know, you heard the CEOs of Pfizer and Moderna saying they're already working on the next shot, the next booster may be specific to certain strains of the virus. So do you see us all having now to get a fourth booster shot at some point this year?

AMESH ADALJA: Not necessarily. I think that what we have to come back to is what the goal is. And the goal is not to eliminate or eradicate COVID-19, and not to prevent every mild illness, to prevent serious disease, hospitalization, and death. So I don't think boosting to prevent mild illness in healthy people is a very valuable thing, especially in the face of omicron.

If there is a variant-specific booster, one directed towards omicron, that may change the equation. Because what we're seeing is people that are boosted, they do get breakthrough infections and the protection from that booster wears off. So I think with the current boosters, a targeted approach to those people who are above the age of 65, those with high risk conditions makes the most sense.

When we get an omicron-specific booster-- if that gets deployed-- that will change the equation. And I think that might be the better way to go. But also, remember that there are second generation vaccines, universal coronavirus vaccines that are in development that could be what ultimately becomes the vaccine that we use routinely in the future.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: And Doctor, I'd love to get your thoughts on this. The University of Washington temporarily closed some of its testing sites last week, and is giving appointment priority to people with COVID symptoms or known exposure. But do you worry that asymptomatic people might continue to spread the virus, especially if they're unable to access testing?

AMESH ADALJA: I think that when you have a time of scarcity, when so many people want to be tested, you do have to prioritize. And it's especially important to prioritize those who are symptomatic, those who have had exposures, because they're going to be higher yield. Eventually, we want people to be able to be tested any time they want in the comfort of their home. Unfortunately, we don't have enough home tests.

But I do think that the goal is to eventually have people know their status at any given time, and then take the correct action. So while we may need to prioritize when there is scarcity, I think eventually the goal is to be able to test yourself at will, to go into your kitchen test yourself every day, test yourself every time you've been exposed, so that you know what you can do that day, whether you're safe to be around or not safe to be around.

- And Doctor, I wonder if we're placing enough emphasis on doing more for therapeutics. Because how important is there to do work on that, to make sure that there's treatment to overcome these issues-- you know, virus infections-- when they happen?

AMESH ADALJA: The treatments are going to become very important. And we do have a great treatment in Pfizer's Paxlovid. It's just that there's not enough of it available. When we get more of it, probably in the spring, I think it will become one of the routine mainstays of treating people. Because this is an oral pill that can keep you out of the hospital, keep you from dying. It's really game-changing.

I just wish we had a lot more of it, because right now, it's in very scarce supplies. And there probably will be other antivirals that will come. The goal, though, is really still prevention. Treatment is always going to be inferior to prevention. So we still need to get people vaccinated, but it's great that our toolbox is getting better to take care of these patients. We just need more capacity to produce Paxlovid.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: You know, how reliable are these COVID-19 at-home tests in detecting omicron at this point?

AMESH ADALJA: You have to step back and ask what you're trying to answer with the test. When you're using a home test, the best question to ask is sometimes, are you contagious? Do you have enough virus in your nose or your mouth to infect other people? And for that reason, for that question, the tests are really, really good.

If you're sick, however, and the test is negative, you can't stop there. You still need to isolate. You still need to think, do I need a formal COVID test? Do I need to be tested for flu or strep throat or something else?

So it's important to just figure out what you're actually trying to ask the test to answer. What question is in your mind? Are you sick or are you contagious? And that's how I think you can kind of figure out which test to use. And I do think that the rapid tests do serve an extremely important role.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: All right. Dr. Amesh Adalja at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Thanks for your time today.