Omicron: 'Relatively good news' based on early data, doctor says

MITRE Chief Medical Officer and Chief Technology Officer Dr. Jay Schnitzer joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss what we know about the early data about the omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Video Transcript

AKIKO FUJITA: Well, three new studies are pointing to some promising news on the omicron variant. Data from South Africa, England, and Scotland all kind of pointing to the same conclusion here. The new strain has a lower risk of hospitalization for patients. In the case of the South Africa study, by the way, the risk of hospitalization was 80% lower than other strains.

Let's bring in our first guest for the hour. We've got Dr. Jay Schnitzer, MITRE chief medical officer and chief technology officer. Doctor, it's great to have you on today. How should we be looking at this study? There's a tendency to look at the promising news and say, well, maybe this is much ado about nothing. But we continue to see those case counts go up. How should we be processing the news?

JAY SCHNITZER: Good morning. Great to be with you. I think we should be seeing it as a glimmer of hope and some potential good news. But it is preliminary data. And we need to wait and see how it plays out in other locations as well.

Remember, the demographics of different areas, different regions, different countries, they're all different. And that plays a big part. But if this variant in fact produces fewer hospitalizations and less serious disease across a broad population, that is relatively good news indeed.

AKIKO FUJITA: We have been looking to South Africa, obviously, to get a better sense of how long this latest wave is likely to last. We got that data yesterday that seemed to point to a peak in the case counts over there. What should Americans be bracing for here in the coming weeks?

JAY SCHNITZER: Well, the peak in South Africa came sooner than we might have expected. It came just barely a month into it, which is relatively short compared to previous variants and previous surges. So if that plays out in other locations, that may also be potentially good news. But it's very hard to say.

Remember, South Africa has different vaccination rates, different average age, and different incidence of people in South Africa having been exposed to COVID before. So different, different, different. It's hard to predict. But if it is shorter, that's also potentially good news.

Nevertheless, we need to be concerned. We need to be careful. And we need to do our best to minimize it going forward.

AKIKO FUJITA: You lead the National Vaccine Credential Initiative, which includes a number of major companies, including Microsoft. There's a number of companies that have tried to sort navigate what this reality should look like in trying to get workers back into the office. What are you hearing from companies about how they plan to move forward on verification of this? And at what point does that definition or should that definition of fully vaccinated change to include that third shot?

JAY SCHNITZER: So as with so many things with this virus, this is a bit of a moving target. And we're learning as we go. And we have to be a little bit humble. And every time we think we understand something, it throws us another curveball.

So what I'm going to say today is based on what we know today, but that could change a few weeks or months from now. But basically, there's no question that if you're vaccinated and have a booster shot that you're much less likely to get a serious version of COVID, even if you do get infected. And that's important for employers and for organizations for their workforce.

So I think it's going to be necessary for as many people to be vaccinated for all organizations as possible and boosted, ultimately, if they're eligible. And they'll need to have some way of demonstrating that that's the case. We know that the cards that have been used in the past by CDC are easy to counterfeit. And there is a growing market for counterfeits in the marketplace. So having a different kind of credential that's foolproof might be very important going forward.

AKIKO FUJITA: What should that credential look like? I mean, to your point, we've heard so many of these cases, especially in the NFL and other sports leagues, for example, of vaccine cards being forged. But that of course is probably just a symbol of what's happening elsewhere too. How do companies go about verifying this? And how long is that digital infrastructure, if you want to call it that, likely to take to build out?

JAY SCHNITZER: Well, it won't take much time to build out at all. It's already here. So the smart card-based digital verification is real. It's in many states. It's in many organizations. And it's out there. So it's available.

And it's just a question of adoption at this point going forward. And it is reliable. And it is exactly the kind of information that is needed going forward, which is completely under the individual's control. They can decide what goes into it and what doesn't and whether they opt in or not. So it's completely up to the individual. And it's available today.

AKIKO FUJITA: We had a doctor on yesterday talking about those who have been infected more recently with COVID and the fact that they can't necessarily get the booster immediately. How do you think that should be resolved? Because if we're talking about full vaccination status, including that third shot, there are patients out there who can't go to get that third shot immediately.

JAY SCHNITZER: Well, I think you're exactly right. And I think the criteria needs to be that you should be boosted as soon as you are eligible. And there are lots of different reasons why someone might not be eligible right this minute, including it's been less than six months since their first two injections or that they've had infection very recently or they have some other circumstance in their life medically which is interfering with their ability to get a booster at this point in time. So as soon as eligible needs to be the modifier on having the booster.

AKIKO FUJITA: And how should we be looking at how this impacts kids? Obviously, there's still a very young group here that is not eligible for the vaccine. There's a lot of parents out there that are asking themselves, number one, what does that timeline look like? And number two, what activities are safe to take part in, especially around the holidays?

JAY SCHNITZER: Well, I think the basic concept for protecting our children zero to five years of age, which is the group you're talking about, is to make sure they're always surrounded by people who are fully vaccinated and boosted, and monitor that carefully and have testing programs in place so that the people surrounding them at schools or at home or wherever are fully vaccinated and tested frequently, as are the children, to make sure they're safe.

By combining those ideas together for our most vulnerable young children, zero to five, we can assure that they will have minimal chance of getting a serious infection.

AKIKO FUJITA: Dr. Jay Schnitzer, it's good to talk to you today, MITRE chief medical officer and chief technology officer.