Dr. Anthony Fauci takes part in a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and other members of the White House COVID-19 Response Team on developments related to the Omicron COVID-19 variant from the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., December 9, 2021. REUTERS/Leah Millis
WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) – White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci on Sunday urged Americans traveling over the upcoming holidays to get booster shots and always wear masks in crowded public spaces to help slow the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The easily transmissible variant is “raging through the world,” and traveling will increase the risk of infection even among vaccinated people, Fauci said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“We are going to see breakthrough infection – there is no doubt about that,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said.
Omicron has been found through testing in more than 20 U.S. states and around 90 countries so far after first being identified in southern Africa and Hong Kong in late November.
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Reporting by Doina Chiacu and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and John Stonestreet
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