According to reports from The Washington Post and CNN on May 6th, 12 American COVID-19 experts have conveyed their opinion to the White House that there is a possibility for a highly mutated virus similar to Omicron to emerge within the next two years.
This forecast came out during the process of the Biden administration gathering opinions from experts while preparing to end the COVID-19 public health emergency on May 11th.
Dr. Trevor Bedford of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center predicted that “the chance of such an event occurring between today and May 4, 2025 is 40%.”
Dr. Eric Topol of the Scripps Research Institute said, “If other very destructive mutations can occur in a few years, the dismantling of the data system is a mistake.”
However, Dr. Ashish Jha, a COVID-19 response advisor to the White House, explained that these discussions were closer to informal discussions than official ones.
