New COVID Strain Comes Up
COVID is a very serious virus that caused a pandemic outbreak back in 2020. For a lot of people, it caused very unfortunate consequences. Some of these effects were that it ended the life for a lot of people. On the other side, for many others, it left them with chronic side effects. It is a virus that has terrified everyone all around the world. Besides this, it has had new and multiple variants or mutations, after the primary one, which was COVID-19.
The variants have been very aggressive but not nearly as much as COVID-19 was. But it does not mean that they are harmless because they have also done a lot infecting people and getting them sick. It just seems like as time goes on new variants keep appearing after COVID-19. The most recent one is called “Beta coronavirus” also known as “BA.2.86.” This new COVID strain is for sure making medical experts concerned regarding the immunity effects.
Concerns Arise from the New COVID Variant
Specialists are concerned that this new and recent mutation of COVID, “BA.2.86,” is going to affect those that have been vaccinated, more likely than the previous COVID mutations. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “The new BA.2.86 lineage of coronavirus may be more capable than older variants in causing infection in people who have previously had COVID-19 or who have received vaccines.” This statement demonstrates that there are still research studies being conducted to see how powerful this mutation might be.
However, they do suspect that it might be more capable to infect people than previous variants. Also, it is stressful situation because the CDC is worried that this new variant is going to infect people that is already vaccinated and that has previously had COVID. Which it is a statement that’s been made but not confirmed.
The CDC has also mentioned that “it is still too soon to know whether or not it might cause severe illness compared with previous variants. But due to the high number of mutations detected in this lineage, there were concerns about its impact on immunity from vaccines and previous infections.” This shows that it’s still too soon to confirm how society’s immunity is going to be impacted by BA.2.86.
Controversy of the New Strain CDC Public Statements
This new mutation of COVID is yet to be entirely investigated and studied. However, there have been various claims and statements that have been made publicly about the new strain. These public claims have been about how BA.2.86 is going to affect further those who have been vaccinated against the virus. Also, those who have had COVID previously are more susceptible according to the claims made on Instagram and Twitter.
These statements have been shared all around social media and people are starting to keep this idea that has not been officially confirmed by the CDC. In fact, the agency has alleged that people are distorting the information that they have stated about the current knowledge about the new virus BA.2.86. They claimed that they never stated that the new variant was more likely going to affect those who have been vaccinated. But rather, that, “those who’ve been vaccinated or previously infected may be more susceptible than they were to prior variants.” The truth is that the new variant is still not completely learned about. And that it is still too soon to know the real-world impacts on immunity with the new COVID strain “BA.2.86.”
Written by Jeanette Sanchez
Reuters: US CDC says new COVID lineage could cause infections in vaccinated individuals
AP News: The CDC didn’t say vaccinated people are more at risk of a new COVID variant than the unvaccinated
KFF Health News: CDC Warns New BA.2.86 Covid Could Infect The Already-Vaccinated
Featured Image Courtesy of Province of British Columbia Flickr Page-Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of QIAGEN Flickr Page-Creative Commons License
