Buck
5,000+ posts
little alien on campus
I hope this isn't here we go again:
'A highly mutated descendant of the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that drove a record wave of infections starting around a year ago, XBB is in many ways the worst form of the virus so far. It’s more contagious than any previous variant or subvariant. It also evades the antibodies from monoclonal therapies, potentially rendering a whole category of drugs ineffective as COVID treatments.'
'That’s the bad news. The good news is that the new “bivalent” vaccine boosters from Pfizer and Moderna seem to work just fine against XBB, even though the original vaccines are less effective against XBB. They won’t prevent all infections and reinfections, but they should significantly reduce the chance of severe infection potentially leading to hospitalization or death...'
Spike proteins keep mutating because the vaccines keep specifically targeting them...
'Changes along the spike protein have characterized most of the major new variants and subvariants of SARS-CoV-2 as the pandemic grinds toward its fourth year.'
'The implication, of course, is that we’re eventually going to need another new booster in order to keep pace with the fast-evolving virus. Sure, the bivalent boosters work against BA.5 and BA.5’s immediate descendants. But what about the next generation of Omicron subvariants, the one after XBB and its cousins?
More and more health officials are coming around to the idea of an annual COVID booster...'
www.thedailybeast.com
'The virus isn’t done with us. Which means we can’t be done with it. Get boosted. And be prepared to get boosted again in 2023.'
'A highly mutated descendant of the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that drove a record wave of infections starting around a year ago, XBB is in many ways the worst form of the virus so far. It’s more contagious than any previous variant or subvariant. It also evades the antibodies from monoclonal therapies, potentially rendering a whole category of drugs ineffective as COVID treatments.'
'That’s the bad news. The good news is that the new “bivalent” vaccine boosters from Pfizer and Moderna seem to work just fine against XBB, even though the original vaccines are less effective against XBB. They won’t prevent all infections and reinfections, but they should significantly reduce the chance of severe infection potentially leading to hospitalization or death...'
Spike proteins keep mutating because the vaccines keep specifically targeting them...
'Changes along the spike protein have characterized most of the major new variants and subvariants of SARS-CoV-2 as the pandemic grinds toward its fourth year.'
'The implication, of course, is that we’re eventually going to need another new booster in order to keep pace with the fast-evolving virus. Sure, the bivalent boosters work against BA.5 and BA.5’s immediate descendants. But what about the next generation of Omicron subvariants, the one after XBB and its cousins?
More and more health officials are coming around to the idea of an annual COVID booster...'
The Nightmare COVID Variant That Beats Our Immunity Is Finally Here
The XBB subvariant of Omicron appears to be the fastest spreading COVID virus yet, and most of our treatments don’t touch it.
'The virus isn’t done with us. Which means we can’t be done with it. Get boosted. And be prepared to get boosted again in 2023.'
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