US President, Joe Biden, has urged Americans not to panic about the new COVID-19 Omicron variant and said the United States was making contingency plans with pharmaceutical companies if new vaccines are needed, Reuters news agency reported on Tuesday.

Biden said the country would not go back to lockdowns to stop the spread of the Omicron variant and that he would lay out his strategy on Thursday for combating the pandemic over the winter.

The president said in remarks at the White House following a meeting with his COVID-19 team: "This variant is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic. We're going to fight and beat this new variant."

He also urged people to get vaccinated, get boosters and wear masks adding that it was inevitable that Omicron cases would emerge in the United States.

While Biden said he believed that existing vaccines would continue to protect against severe disease, he added that his administration was working with vaccine makers Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), Moderna (Nasdaq:MRNA) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) to develop contingency plans.

President Biden also said he would direct the US Food and Drug Administration and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to make those vaccines available quickly.