Osterholm Quotes

"If we chase this virus by just trying to catch up with the subvariant development and they make new vaccines, we'll always be a day late and a dollar short. The still most important thing is get the regular vaccine we have right now, knowing that it won't necessarily protect you from getting infected but it can go a long ways in protecting you from serious illness, hospitalizations, or deaths."

"By the nature of its infectiousness and ability to evade immune protection, [Omicron] has just remained the dominant variant. But, you can surely expect that Pi or Sigma will show up somewhere."

"We are still learning a lot about this virus, and it's changing so quickly. Fortunately, we're not seeing a major increase in severe illness, hospitalizations and deaths."

"This is really a hyper-transmissible virus. And if you look right now, as BA.5 is increasing, we're seeing this exposure now with the level of infections where this virus is. If you have a good elevator ride, you very well could get infected."

“These vaccines, you know, are not going to be the perfect stop-gap....They’re not going to prevent all transmission, they’re not going to prevent all illnesses, but they will do a lot to reduce serious illness in these kids.”

“There’s probably more transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the last 30 days than there had been in any 30-day period in the entire pandemic."

South Africa has "seen many breakthrough infections of people who were infected with [Omicron] BA.1 8 to 10 weeks ago and then got BA.4 and 5 just in the last 2 weeks. The good news is it's a much less serious illness, generally speaking."

"Look what happened—Delta showed up a month from now, relative to a year ago, and then Omicron. In a way, we're still in that kind of world. We don't know yet what the next variant or variants will be."

"We've never seen this subvariant activity with Alpha, Beta, or Delta, so who could have predicted 6 months ago where we'd be at? That's the challenge we have."

"Should the FDA approve the [COVID] vaccine for younger than age 5, the data we have right now suggests that [parents are] going to wait. It is still a huge challenge in terms of getting our kids vaccinated. Converting a vaccine into a vaccination is really difficult in this age group."

“If you do just look at those friends, colleagues, neighbors who are infected—confirmed by a home test or a PCR test—it is remarkable how many people are infected right now."

“I think it [the recent unexplained pediatric hepatitis cases] could be a very difficult nut to crack."

"The idea that you're modeling six months out? It's pixie dust. Six months ago we didn't have Omicron,"

"I've seen no data which supports the possibility of a fall or winter surge in the US resulting in 100 million cases. No one should make that kind of statement without providing the assumptions behind that number. Could it happen? Sure, but it's more likely if a new variant shows up that is more infectious and more likely to evade existing immune protection than Omicron. Any modeling that looks beyond 30 days out is largely based on pixie dust."

“There is one way [to slow the rate of evolving variants], and it’s to stop transmission. If the virus is not reproducing itself, we wouldn’t see nearly the same level of mutational changes.”

"It's impossible to predict what will happen," next in the pandemic.

“I don't know what the next shoe is to drop. I don't know. It could be this is as bad as it's gonna get, from here on out, much more mild illness if you have any immunity at all. Or maybe it won't be. I don't know.”

"Everybody is worried about omicron, which is understandable. I am worried about what is going to be pi or sigma or whatever is next."

“Any time you’re dealing with H5N1, you sleep with one eye open."

"Every day is a brand new day with this pandemic, relative to the variants. We know that we have strains that are much more infectious, so that, you know, you can't come up with an answer today to say this is where we're at because tomorrow, it could change."