Two omicron subvariants which can be immune to key antibody treatments are on the rise within the U.S., in line with data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The subvariants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 now represent 27% of infections within the U.S., a big jump from the week prior after they made up about 16% of recent cases, in line with CDC data published Friday.
Omicron BA.5, though still the dominant variant, is diminishing every week. It now represents about 50% of infections within the U.S., down from 60% the week prior, in line with the info.
President Joe Biden this week cautioned individuals with compromised immune systems that they were particularly in danger this winter because antibody treatments are usually not effective against emerging subvariants.
BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 are likely immune to Evusheld and bebtelovimab, in line with the National Institutes of Health.
Evusheld is an antibody cocktail administered as two injections that folks ages 12 and older with moderately or severely compromised immune systems take to stop Covid-19. Bebtelovimab is a monoclonal antibody taken to treat Covid after an infection.
Biden urged individuals with weak immune systems to seek the advice of their physicians on what precautions to take. Dr. Ashish Jha, head of the White House Covid task force, said the U.S. is running out of options to treat the vulnerable because Congress did not pass extra money for the nation’s Covid response.
“We had hoped that over time because the pandemic went along, as our fight against this virus went along, we could be expanding our medication cabinet,” Jha told reporters this week. “Due to lack of congressional funding that medicine cabinet has actually shrunk and that does put vulnerable people in danger.”
It’s unclear how well the brand new boosters will protect against variants equivalent to BQ.1 and BQ.1.1. Jha has said the boosters should offer higher protection than the old shots because these subvariants are descended from BA.5, which is contained within the updated vaccines.
Two independent studies from Columbia and Harvard this week found that the omicron boosters didn’t perform a lot better than the old shots against BA.5. The Food and Drug Administration said the studies were too small to attract any definitive conclusions.
The CDC, the FDA and the White House Covid taskforce imagine the brand new shots will prove more practical because they’re higher matched to the circulating variants than the primary generation vaccines.
“It is cheap to expect based on what we find out about immunology and the science of this virus that these recent vaccines will provide higher protection against infection, higher protection against transmission and ongoing and higher protection against serious illness,” Jha told reporters in September.
Jha called for all eligible Americans to get the omicron booster and their flu shot by Halloween so that they’re protected when families start gathering for the vacations.