The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has stated that the COVID-19 vaccines and boosters are effective against the highly infectious sublineage of Omicron-XBB and its subvariant XBB.1.5. First seen in August, XBB.1.5 now accounts for about 90 percent of all reported COVID-19 cases in the US, the CDC said.
According to officials, a “bivalent” booster that targets both the early strain of the virus and the original Omicron version will be more protective than the original “monovalent” vaccine as the virus continues to be developed, USA Today reported.
The latest CDC study found that the booster remains protective against XBB, despite mismatching variants. “There is incremental or additional protection from having a bivalent on top of those previous monovalent doses,” Ruth Link-Giles, the paper’s first author, told the media.
The prevalence of XBB.1.5 has been rising steadily since late last year, and is estimated to account for 89.2 percent of new Covid-19 cases in the US this week, up from 85.4 percent last week and 79.7 percent two weeks ago. Agency informed.
Preliminary studies suggest that XBB.1.5 has some related mutations that suggest it is more infectious than other strains, possibly the most infectious to date. While XBB.1.5 is spreading easily, the scientists said it does not appear to cause more severe disease.
However, a separate study, not yet peer-reviewed, suggests that protection against Covid wanes faster against XBB than against other variants, within about three months.
CDC officials said that vaccination can reduce the risk of death by 13 times. He said that taking a booster reduces the risk by two times.