By Connor Boyd Health and Science Editor for Dailymail.Com 19:34 September 08, 2023, updated 21:41 September 08, 2023
- According to the CDC, the data suggests that the vaccine provides protection against Pirola from a previous infection
- The FDA is expected to approve updated vaccines as early as next week
- READ MORE: FDA adviser says healthy young people don’t need another booster shot
US health chiefs believe America’s Covid immunity will withstand a new, highly mutated variant.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said initial data suggest antibodies from a previous infection or vaccination offer a high level of protection against BA.2.86.
BA.2.86 – or Pirola – sparked panic last month because it arose from an earlier lineage of the Covid virus and acquired more than 30 mutations that differentiated it from the currently dominant strains.
Even the CDC feared the new strain might be able to bypass previous immunity when it released its first risk assessment in August.
These fears were one of the reasons several U.S. colleges, schools, and businesses have reintroduced masks — through orders or recommendations.
While virologists have warned that it’s too early to reliably pinpoint BA.2.86’s specific symptoms, its ancestor BA.2 showed some telltale signs. However, experts are still unsure whether it behaves like similar Omicron sub-variants. Signs to look out for include a runny nose, sore throat and fatigue. Americans wear face masks while waiting in line to vote in the 2020 presidential election. Some colleges and companies are reintroducing mask requirements as Covid cases rise in the US
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to approve updated vaccines targeting other circulating strains of the virus in the coming days.
The new shots were commissioned well before the advent of BA.2.86 and there were fears that the new variant could evade protection.
But early data from blood lab tests provide encouraging signs for the new vaccinations, the CDC said.
BA.2.86 was identified in nine US states as of Friday, but with so few Covid swabs being analyzed for variants, the strain is likely much more widespread than official figures suggest.
The FDA’s vaccine advisor, Dr. Paul Offit, says healthy young people don’t need another Covid booster
Dr. Paul Offit, who advises the FDA on a range of infectious disease vaccines, told DailyMail.com that middle-aged and younger Americans who don’t have chronic illnesses already have strong enough immunity from previous Covid vaccines and infections to fight to prevent serious illnesses this winter .
Experts initially feared BA.2.86 would spark a new wave of infections because it had more than 35 mutations in the spike protein — the part the virus uses to infect cells — compared to its closest ancestors.
Scientists compared the evolutionary leap to when Omicron first appeared, overtaking the Delta variant in 2021, triggering unprecedented infection numbers worldwide and record US hospitalizations.
But tests by experts in New York and China last week found antibodies from those who had been vaccinated and those who had recovered from infection in the past six months were just as effective against BA.2.86 – allowing them to get the To stop infection – as they were with other variants.
Then Moderna and Pfizer tested their new vaccines against the strain in laboratory studies and reported high levels of effectiveness.
The updated vaccines are set to roll out as soon as next week, after the Biden administration announced plans to spend another $1.4 billion on Covid drugs and vaccinations for all Americans — despite the pandemic being declared over in May.
The Biden administration is expected to agree to another nationwide vaccination campaign and encourage every American over the age of five to take the booster shot, though other countries like the UK say the vaccines are only required for adults over 65.
But not all U.S. health experts agree with the government’s recommendations.
Dr. Paul Offit, who advises the FDA on a range of vaccines for many infectious diseases, previously told DailyMail.com that middle-aged and younger Americans who don’t have chronic diseases already have strong enough immunity from previous Covid vaccines and infections to prevent them I fell seriously ill this winter.
For this reason, Dr. Offit that young, healthy people don’t have to roll up their sleeves to strengthen themselves.
Instead, he recommends focusing the new vaccination campaign on people over the age of 75 (d others) and those who are immunocompromised and those who are pregnant.’
While data shows Covid hospitalizations are increasing across the US: About 17,400 people were hospitalized in the week ending August 26, an increase of about 15,000 compared to the previous seven-day period , but that’s well below levels reported earlier in the year, when there were about 44,000 recordings per week in January.