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Omicron variants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 now dominant in U.S. : Shots


New COVID variants with high immune evasion have overtaken BA.5 to dominate in the US Experts warn this means more reinfection and possible winter spike .

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Spencer Platt / Getty Images


New COVID variants with high immune evasion have overtaken BA.5 to dominate in the US Experts warn this means more reinfection and possible winter spike .

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

According to estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two new omicron sub-variants have become dominant in the United States, raising concerns that they could cause another wave of COVID-19 infections. estimates released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Secondary variables – called BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 – seems to be one of the best at evading immunity from vaccinations and previous infections, and has now surpassed the sub-representative omicron BA.5 that has dominated in the US since the summer.

“It’s oddly familiar,” Dr. Jeremy Luban of the University of Massachusetts, who have been tracking variations since the pandemic began.

“This time of last year we were very bullish. We were coming out of the delta wave, and it was descending, and we entered Thanksgiving waking up to omicrons. So there’s that kind of feeling. feeling déjà vu since last year,” said Luban.

BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, have rapidly gained ground in the US in recent weeks. On Friday, they officially passed BA.5, accounting for about 44% of all new infections nationwide and nearly 60% in some parts of the country, such as New York and New Jersey, according to the CDC’s. estimate. BA.5 is now estimated to account for about 30% of all new infections nationwide.

Recently Research in the laboratory showed that new mutations in the viral mutant protein appear to make BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 seven times more “immune avoidance” than BA.5.

But even if new subspecies surge this winter, most experts think any increase in infections won’t hit as hard as the pandemic’s first two winter spikes. .

“We hope that the amount of immunity that has been built up from a previous infection or by vaccination” will protect most people from becoming seriously ill or dying, Dr. Anthony FauciWhite House medical adviser, told NPR.

That said, a new research shows that reinfection with the virus can still pose significant risks, both in terms of short- and long-term complications, including increased risk of hospitalization, prolonged symptoms of COVID, and even death. .

“The risk of reinfection is certainly not small,” Ziyad Al-Aly, an assistant professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and author of the new study. “So as we head into winter now, everyone should do their best to try to prevent reinfection,” he said.

“You are basically playing Russian Roulette again,” he said. “You can dodge the bullet next time, but maybe not.”

Because the dominant new variants appear to have a high degree of immune evasion, many people can become reinfected.

“The bad news is that it’s likely that people who have been vaccinated and/or infected will still get infected” with these new sub-variants, Dr. Daniel Baroucha virologist at Beth Deaconess Hospital in Boston, who is studying new strains of bacteria.

New strains are becoming dominant just as winter is approaching and people will travel and gather for the holiday, factors that have raised fears of another winter surge.

‘US will see a rise in COVID-19 winters’, predicted William Hanage, an epidemiologist at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. “And I think that if nothing changes then BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 will probably be very important players.”

The key question is the size of any winter surge that emerges.

“The question is whether this increase will be nationwide and whether the scale of the increase and the increase will be the same as what we experienced with delta and omicrons, or much smaller,” he said. Samuel ScarpinoVice President of Pathogen Surveillance at the Rockefeller Foundation.

“I think that’s quite concerning,” he added.

Infections, and even hospitalizations, have begun to rise in some parts of the country.

A promising sign is the recent increase in other countries suggesting that if the secondary variables join a new US wave, any increase could persist for as long as possible. short time. For example, while France experienced an increase in relation to new secondary variables, the increase in cases rapidly declined.

However, experts are urging more people to buy one of the updated boosters, targeting the omicron for the first time.

“Hopefully more people will come and get their updated vaccine – the dual-value vaccine,” Fauci said. “That would mitigate a real increase and at worst we’d get a blip versus a big increase.”

While some Preliminary research questioned whether the new booster was better than the original vaccine in protecting against omicrons, other suggested that they could be. Recent vaccine makers Pfizer and BioNTech release a statement says their new booster stimulates much higher levels of antibodies that can neutralize the omicron BA.5 by-product than the original vaccine.

Another concern is these new extra variables potentially rendering monoclonal antibody drugs ultimately uselessincluding a drug that people with compromised immune systems use to protect themselves.

“Winter will be especially worrisome for immunocompromised people,” says Harvard’s Hanage.

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