Even after causing mild illness, people infected with Omicron are likely to suffer from long COVID, top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci has said.
"Long COVID can happen no matter what virus variant occurs. There's no evidence that there's any difference between Delta or Beta or now Omicron," Fauci was quoted as saying in an interview with Spectrum News.
Long-term symptoms usually include shortness of breath, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, insomnia, and brain fog.
Fauci also noted that the words used to define vaccination status could soon change.
"People should put aside this concern about a definition and say 'If I want to be optimally protected, I should get boosted'," he said.
According to Fauci, reaching a high vaccination rate will drive down COVID infections once and for all.
"I'm hoping that more people who are being recalcitrant about getting vaccinated wind up getting vaccinated, so we can have a uniform blanket of protection over the country," he said.
That blanket of protection, Fauci explained, could help the US diminish COVID-19 to "such a low level that it doesn't interfere with our function as a society".
(This story was published from a syndicated feed. Only the headline and picture has been edited by FIT.)
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