Dr Anthony Fauci announced on Sunday that though the Biden administration had expected COVID to mutate, they did not anticipate the extent of mutations, as evidenced in the omicron variant. 

His statement comes as a response to Vice President, Kamala Harris’ comments that scientists advising the government did not see this new development coming. Fauci clarified the situation in a CNN interview, saying, “We certainly were anticipating that there were going to be variants because we have so many viruses, so much replication going on in the community.” 

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He further explained, “If you give a virus enough opportunity to replicate, you know, it’s going to ultimately mutate and sometimes those mutations wind up being a new variant and that’s exactly what happened with Delta and certainly that’s what happened with Omicron.”

However, Fauci has humbly accepted that they did not expect the extent of amino acid substitutions and mutations that the world is witnessing the omicron variant. He also observed that omicron has 50 mutations, when compared to the original virus strain. These mutations are seen primarily in the spike protein, the part of the virus binding it to cells. 

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Since it was an unprecedented development, Fauci reiterated that there was no way to see this coming in advance. Currently, the US government is buckling under the pressure of increased infections. While the administration tries to tackle the omicron variant before the spread becomes uncontrollable, Fauci has promised to make rapid testing at home, for COVID, more widely available. 

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He noted, “We really need to flood the system with testing. We need to have tests available for anyone who wants them particularly more in a situation right now when people are going to be gathering”. Fauci also took the time to urge people who have been doubly vaccinated to go the extra mile and take the test, if they show any sort of symptoms.