Experts fear the world is not ready for a new COVID-19 variant

By Zoila Palma Gonzalez: Experts fear that we are not ready for a “nightmare” new COVID-19 variant, Yahoo reports.

A wave of COVID-19 infections caused by the BA.5 subvariant continues with daily new cases and hospitalizations.

Scientists say that another wave is inevitable as new variants and subvariants mutate, dominating new cases.

BA.5 remains dominant but scientists are already looking at what might come next and they have identified 2 main possibilities.

They believe that it could be another form of Omicron, a variant our immune systems recognize and know how to beat, or a new variant that can slip right past our antibodies.

 “The virus always figured out a way to survive,” John Swartzberg, a professor emeritus of infectious diseases and vaccinology at the University of California-Berkeley’s School of Public Health said.

Officials say that BA.5 is the 3^rd major subvariant of Omicron and became the dominant variant after the Alpha, Delta, and BA.1.

Scientists are unsure if the next dominant form of COVID-19 is the 4^th major Omicron subvariant or a totally new variant.

According to the report, the distinction matters since all the Omicron sublineages share certain key mutations, especially around the virus’ spike protein, the part of the pathogen that helps it grab onto and infect our cells.

Experts say that the best tool against any new variant would be the formulations of the messenger-RNA vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer.

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