New year, new variant of Covid shows how tough it is for boosters to keep up with mutations

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The Omicron variants were all the rage in Covid news in early 2022. But with the new year, a new Omicron variant of Covid has roared onto the scene and is now sweeping the East Coast, where over 75% of known cases are of the newest version.

Delta is done, and the Omicron BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 variants that dominated cases in the fall are waning. The newest mutation, XBB.1.5, accounts for over 40.5% of Covid infections around the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

That’s a jump of 21% from where the mutation was on the chart just one week ago. It’s being seen in the Northeast portion of the country, where over 80% of the population has been vaccinated and boosted against Covid, but scientists are now casting doubt on the efficacy of those boosters against this variant. XBB.1.5 is highly immune evasive, scientists report, warning that breakthrough cases and reinfections are likely.

Yet it’s not clear that XBB.1.5 causes more severe illness or is a greater threat than previous strains of Covid. During the last week of 2022, some 2,530 Americans died with Covid, compared to 17,048 during the same week in 2021.

The XBB strain has been detected in at least 70 other counties, the World Health Organization said. The variant has not yet made its grand appearance in Alaska, although is now thought to be 18% of cases in the Seattle area.

A study published the scientific journal Cell reports that BQ and XBB variants are “barely susceptible to neutralization” by current vaccines and the newest omicron boosters. The new aggressive variants could “further compromise the efficacy of current COVID-19 vaccines and result in a surge of breakthrough infections as well as re-infections,” the researchers from Columbia University said in the article titled, “Alarming antibody evasion properties of rising SARS-CoV-2 BQ and XBB subvariants.”

One year ago, another study from Columbia University cast doubts on whether the new vaccines, rolled out in 2021, were effective against the now spent Omicron virus, reporting that the variant flavor of the day was “markedly resistant” to vaccines and boosters. In the United States, more than 614 million doses of Covid vaccine have been given and many people have had up to four booster shots.

The most recent updated (bivalent) boosters became available in September for people aged 12 years and older, but these newest scientific studies are throwing shade on the booster’s ability to defend against the new versions of Covid.

24 COMMENTS

  1. I am still waiting for someone to produce evidence – any evidence – of the zoonotic origins of the Covid 19 virus. Until that happens we can continue to thank the unidentified researcher in Wuhan for creating this little treasure. Personally, I would make gain-of-function research in the US a capital crime.

  2. Looks as if the drug company’s are advertising everywhere to sell the experimental shot to anyone who has not kept up with the risks.

      • what has it proven to do? it wasn’t even tested for efficacy; a pfizer rep admitted this while testifying in front of some EU big shots. No long-term study of possible side effects can be conducted due to the fact that big pharma destroyed the control group and its still under emergency use authorization I believe. not to mention the latest version only tested on a handful of mice.

      • Lorenandrews: Although many Doctors believe the covid shot is experimental, there are those who will tell you it is not. The covid vaccine is experimental in that there have not been long term studies done. President Biden had all his shots including 2 boosters and he has had covid twice.
        The vaccinations given to children have had long term studies and when they get the vaccine, they do not get the disease. My concern is if CDC wanted to protect all people here of coming down with diseases, they would make certain the illegals are vaccinated as our children have to be. When there is a considerate drop in immunized people for a disease it reappears. Take for instance Measles is back in some states.For me, it is Marge about Pharmaceutical companies and MONEY. Not giving individuals the right to choose an experimental vaccine and firing them as they did the Military is beyond the pale.

  3. It’s past time people accept it’s not going anywhere and learn to live with it.

    Unless it wildly mutates against nature (viruses want to live, killing off hosts works against this imperative) it will continue to weaken until it’s another variant of the flu.

    Annoying, fatal to a small percentage, but untimely just another thing to most people.

  4. Agree totally with JMARK. Mainstream media just won’t stop re-printing Center for Disease Coercion talking points about ‘variants’ in a futile attempt to keep their lies afloat as the evidence mounts of their vaccine democide.

  5. It’s never been about keeping up with any new strains. It’s been about profit, and control. Fear and power. That’s it.

    • Somebody had a lot of fun with a styrofoam ball and some pipecleaners – and introduce it with fireworks! Be afraid people…

  6. Welcome to scamdemic 10.0
    Just keep rebranding and push harder in cramming down the worlds nasal cavity and shots in the arm. The blind and dumb will swallow the bs, hook line and sinker.

  7. If i knew how to do
    peyote bead weaving, i could turn that photo into earring dangles and pendant. It’ll be a very attractive set.

  8. One thing is becoming abundantly clear – excess deaths around the world are up almost 20% & there are serious questions as to the “vaccines” role in this anomaly! And why were coroners in the USA and Canada directed to not perform autopsies on Covid patients who have died?

  9. Is covid still a thing? It’s 2023, covid wasn’t really much of a thing for most of 2022. If it didn’t kill you or cause long term brain damage in 2021 and it didn’t rot your brain in 2022 you’re probably good in 2023…or you might get sick and die. Dying is a part of life, I think it’s time to do the Roaring 20’s take two!

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