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Well... Fall is nearly upon us, meaning the summer strain anxiety is over and the Fall/Winter angst is upon us.
Will the XEC COVID variant bring a fall wave of infections? What to know about symptoms and spread
Okay. Better protection against current variants, but the so-called 'vaccine' weren't produced to deal with the one making the headlines? Uh...
Florida's health officials say COVID booster targets wrong strain. An expert says it will still work
Don't we consistently hear similar things with regard to the 'flu shots;' i.e., that they aren't working as well as intended because they don't address the dominant and emerging strains?
Will the XEC COVID variant bring a fall wave of infections? What to know about symptoms and spread
...Called XEC, this emerging sublineage stems from the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The strain had been detected in at least 15 countries and 12 U.S. states as of Sept. 3...
While XEC is on the move, its prevalence remains relatively low in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). An Omicron sublineage called KP.3.1.1 (and nicknamed “DeFLuQE”) has recently taken over, accounting for 53% of infections nationwide from Sept. 1–14, per the CDC’s COVID Data Tracker. XEC isn’t pervasive enough to even appear on the tracker—it would have to account for at least 1% of infections in a two-week span—but that may not be the case for long...
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are mRNA-based and earmarked for the Omicron KP.2 strain. The protein-based Novavax vaccine targets its parental lineage, JN.1. While they weren’t engineered to combat XEC per se, they were manufactured with the family of recently circulating variants in mind.
The CDC recommends everyone aged 6 months and older get an updated vaccine to protect themselves and their loved ones against severe infection, hospitalization, and death.
“Vaccination continues to be the cornerstone of COVID-19 prevention,” Dr. Peter Marks, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a news release last month. “Given waning immunity of the population from previous exposure to the virus and from prior vaccination, we strongly encourage those who are eligible to consider receiving an updated COVID-19 vaccine to provide better protection against currently circulating variants.”...
While XEC is on the move, its prevalence remains relatively low in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). An Omicron sublineage called KP.3.1.1 (and nicknamed “DeFLuQE”) has recently taken over, accounting for 53% of infections nationwide from Sept. 1–14, per the CDC’s COVID Data Tracker. XEC isn’t pervasive enough to even appear on the tracker—it would have to account for at least 1% of infections in a two-week span—but that may not be the case for long...
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are mRNA-based and earmarked for the Omicron KP.2 strain. The protein-based Novavax vaccine targets its parental lineage, JN.1. While they weren’t engineered to combat XEC per se, they were manufactured with the family of recently circulating variants in mind.
The CDC recommends everyone aged 6 months and older get an updated vaccine to protect themselves and their loved ones against severe infection, hospitalization, and death.
“Vaccination continues to be the cornerstone of COVID-19 prevention,” Dr. Peter Marks, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a news release last month. “Given waning immunity of the population from previous exposure to the virus and from prior vaccination, we strongly encourage those who are eligible to consider receiving an updated COVID-19 vaccine to provide better protection against currently circulating variants.”...
Florida's health officials say COVID booster targets wrong strain. An expert says it will still work
...Last month, the FDA approved the latest COVID vaccine. It’s intended to target a strain known as KP.2, the dominant variant during the summer. However, as of Aug. 19, the current prevalent strain is KP.3.1.1, according to the CDC.
This difference is the focus of the Florida Department of Health’s most recent vaccine guidelines. In a memo sent Thursday, the agency urged people to skip the new booster because it doesn’t target the most infectious strain.
At the University of South Florida College of Public Health, epidemiologist Edwin Michael doesn’t fully agree. He said KP.2 and KP3.1.1 are closely related - close enough that the booster should still be effective...
This difference is the focus of the Florida Department of Health’s most recent vaccine guidelines. In a memo sent Thursday, the agency urged people to skip the new booster because it doesn’t target the most infectious strain.
At the University of South Florida College of Public Health, epidemiologist Edwin Michael doesn’t fully agree. He said KP.2 and KP3.1.1 are closely related - close enough that the booster should still be effective...
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