Meanwhile, the highly contagious Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 — also nicknamed the “Kraken” — is now the dominant strain of SARS-CoV-2 in the United States, with the CDC claiming just over 49% of the country’s cases. I am predicting. of last week.
early this month, WHO says XBB.1.5 is the most contagious variant ever, distributed in dozens of countries. A devastating wave has yet to emerge in the United States, but the death toll is still soaring this month, with an average of 564 people dying each day from her Covid-19 as of Jan. 18. same time in December.
of efficacy studies of new vaccines, A Covid test using data from the National Pharmacy Program showed that bivalent boosters were effective against symptomatic infections with XBB and XBB.1. 48% found to provide excellent protection. People who have only received 2 to 4 monovalent doses previously.
It also provided 52% higher protection against symptomatic infection from the BA.5 subvariant, although CDC estimates BA.5 accounted for only about 2% of US cases last week.
CDC officials warn that the findings reflect population-level protection rates and that the risk of infection varies from person to person.
Ruth Link-Gelles, author of the vaccine efficacy study published in MMWR Wednesday, said: “Their immune systems are different and they have different past infections. They may have underlying conditions that put them at greater or lesser risk of COVID-19 disease.”
She also said it’s unclear how long the bivalent booster protection will last given the limitations of the study.
“It’s too early to know how the decline will occur with bivalent vaccines,” she said. Therefore, even if protection against symptomatic infections diminishes over time, there may be long-term protection against more serious illness.”
