Americans who were vaccinated or infected with Covid earlier than last July may have weaker protection against the fast-growing XBB.1.5 variant, the White House said.
DR Ashish Jha, the Biden administration’s Covid response co-ordinator, said the chances of these people not contracting the new strain were “not great”, but he expected protection against serious illness and death to be high.
In a lengthy Twitter thread, he said the new variant – a spin-off from Omicron – had seen an “amazing surge” in the US in recent weeks.
Figures show it accounts for 40 percent of active U.S. cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — up from just four percent in early December.
The fast-growing XBB.1.5 subvariant (dark blue) now accounts for 40 percent of US Covid cases, according to the latest CDC data
DR Jha encouraged people to get the bivalent Covid booster – which is specifically tailored to the Omicron variant and its substrains – although there are doubts it is an improvement over previous shots.
“If you had an infection before July OR your last vaccine before the bivalent update was in September… your protection against XBB.1.5 infection is probably not as good,” said Dr. yes in a thread of 13 tweets.
The species is an amalgamation of variants BJ.1 and XBB.1 – both subvariants of Omicron that never found acceptance in the US.
The mutations include one change that allows the vaccine to bypass vaccine-provided antibodies and a second that improves its ability to bind to cells.
This makes it more contagious than previous versions of the virus and helps evade vaccine immunity.
Pfizer and Moderna’s bivalent injections received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in late summer.
Why there is NO reason to panic about the new Covid variant XBB. 1.5
Concerns about a new wave of Covid are growing, but experts say there is no need to panic.
They were created to fight infections of the Omicron variant – and all the sub-variants that have emerged from it over the past year.
The original vaccines, launched in late 2020, were adapted for the original Wuhan strain of the virus.
Although Omicron has shown the ability to bypass the vaccines’ protection against infection, those vaccinated with the original shots are still unlikely to experience serious hospitalization or death.
It is currently unclear how effective the bivalent booster is against the XBB.1.5 variant and there are doubts whether the new injection is better at preventing serious hospitalization or death from Covid than the original vaccine.
Experts assure the public that there is little need to worry about the new species.
Professor Paul Hunter, an epidemiologist at Britain’s University of East Anglia, told MailOnline this week that most new variants “die out within a few weeks”.
However, the sharp increase in XBB.1.5 prevalence is “certainly very concerning” and indicates “a fairly dramatic growth advantage and enough to trigger another wave of infections,” he said.
The strain accounted for 40.5 percent of the Covid cases tracked by the CDC in the last week of 2022 — up from 21.7 percent a week earlier and 10 percent two weeks earlier.
That rapid growth quickly overtook the BQ.1.1 variant – which many feared would become the country’s dominant Covid strain by the end of the year. BQ.1.1 is responsible for 26.9 percent of the consecutive Covid cases.
Although these variants are believed to be more infectious than previous Omicron strains, they have not caused the number of cases to rise to the same levels as last year.
The US recorded nearly 600,000 new Covid infections daily in early 2022 as the first wave of omicron swept the country.
Now the number of cases is about a tenth of what it was – with the US recording 64,000 infections a day.
Death rates from Covid have also not risen to great heights, with America reaching 457 per day – or less than one per 100,000 people.
But officials warn that the number of Americans hospitalized with Covid is rising to alarming levels.
Each day, about 46,000 hospitalized Americans test positive for the virus — the highest daily number since August, when the BA.5 subvariant caused a spike in cases.
DR Jha says he is “concerned” about the development of XBB.1.1, but does not see it as a major setback in the pandemic.
“We can work together to get the virus under control, and if we all do our part, we can reduce the impact on our lives,” he wrote.
He also notes that antiviral drugs such as Pfizer’s Paxlovid are still believed to be effective against the strain.
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Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
