Omicron booster perhaps not needed according to Fauci.

This seems right based on the initial lab immunological data and real world effectiveness data. The standard boosters look to be sufficient against Omicron. And we don't know the picture yet for severe disease, which if previous variants are predictive should still be robust. Of course it is still early days.

Regardless of if an Omicron-specific booster is needed or not, it doesn't make sense to wait for one. Omicron has a very short doubling rate. While it is <0.1% of cases in the US right now it will likely become dominant in the coming months. Well before the expected timeline of March/April for an Omicron-specific booster.

The Omicron-specific booster should come faster than the previous Beta/Delta-specific vaccine timelines. The FDA has already stated it will only need to see the same amount of data as the standard boosters. So only brief immunological data in a small cohort showing superior immunogenicity to the control group.