Study: New coronavirus subvariants dominating new COVID-19 infections
New Omicron
subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 appear to escape antibody responses among both people
who had previous COVID-19 infection and those who have been fully vaccinated and
boosted, according to new data from researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess
Medical Center, of Harvard Medical School.
However, COVID-19
vaccination is still expected to provide substantial protection against severe
disease, and vaccine makers are working on updated shots that might elicit a
stronger immune response against the variants.
BA.4 and BA.5 caused an estimated
35% of new COVID-19 infections in the United States last week, up from 29% the
week before, according to data shared by the US Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday.
BA.4 and BA.5 are the fastest
spreading variants reported to date, and they are expected to dominate COVID-19
transmission in the United States, United Kingdom and the rest of Europe within
the next few weeks, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and
Control.