The White House contacted a small group of Covid-19 scientists in March and asked them a straightforward question: What are the possibilities that the world would see a severely modified form, similar to Omicron, over the following two years?
Based on Dr. Eric Topol, the founder, and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, the specialists came out with an unexpectedly small range of probability, around 5% and 30%. He claimed that when he provided his estimate of 15% to 20% over the telephone, the information had been discussed with him.
Some of those specialists, according to Dr. Dan Barouch, head of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, were identified by CNN.
Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House’s coordinator of the Covid-19 response, contacted him for “just a casual phone talk regarding my concerns about tolerance and variations and the possibility of additional variants appearing. I couldn’t determine if it was a formal consultation meeting. I believe it was more of a casual conversation among coworkers, according to Barouch.”