. Top Research Scientist Tells CNBC’s Jim Cramer Vaccines ‘Should Hold Up Against Severe Disease’ From Omicron Variant - News Times

Top Research Scientist Tells CNBC’s Jim Cramer Vaccines ‘Should Hold Up Against Severe Disease’ From Omicron Variant

By News Here - 11:07

Top research scientist Dr. Eric Topol told CNBC’s Jim Cramer that there’s reason to believe that current vaccines will be effective at preventing “severe disease” from the Omicron variant.

On Tuesday night’s edition of CNBC’s Mad Money, Cramer spoke to Dr. Topol about the market’s 650-point tumble amid fears over the Omicron variant.

Cramer criticized Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel for what he perceived as inconsistent messaging on the variant in a pair of interviews.

“We heard Stéphane Bancel on our show yesterday morning on Squawk, and he was very sanguine. He made us feel pretty good. And then he gave an interview to Financial Times that evening. Not only was he not sanguine. He was very saturnine, made us all feel bad,” Cramer said.

Cramer added “that kind of inconsistency creates tremendous uncertainty.”

Dr. Topol, who is Founder and Director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, Professor of Molecular Medicine, and Executive Vice-President of Scripps Research, agreed with Cramer.

“I couldn’t agree more with you more, Jim, we gotta look at the hard facts about how our immune system responds, because that’s really the main challenge here, the so-called antigenic drift that is, because of so many mutations, that it looks different to our body,” Topol said.

He added that the main question is “how much does it really evade our immune system? And you know what? We are so certain that when you get a booster third shot, you get a really high level of neutralizing antibodies and you get a broader coverage of those antibodies.”

Topol went on to say that “there’s lots of reasons for optimism that this is not, you know, some horrible situation that we’re in,” and that “The vaccine should hold up against severe disease, especially with people who are boosted.”

Of Bancel, Topol said “I don’t understand the inconsistency that the same person is you giving two different messages, and at the same time, the BioNTech CEO is giving a very positive message.”

“If you just look at the biology, you would be optimistic, really,” Topol said.

There have been other causes for cautious optimism amid the uncertainty, such as reports that Omicron patients have presented with mild disease and reporting that 90 percent of Omicron hospitalizations are of unvaccinated people.

Stocks were rallying Wednesday as of this writing.

Watch above via CNBC.

The post Top Research Scientist Tells CNBC’s Jim Cramer Vaccines ‘Should Hold Up Against Severe Disease’ From Omicron Variant first appeared on Mediaite.

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