New variants of Ómicron continue to make their way into new cases of coronavirus. The sublineages of this strain already represent 10% of the samples analyzed in Spain and experts point out that transmission will grow in the coming weeks in our country.
Is about BA.4 and BA.5more contagious variants from Ómicron, and that the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) itself already indicates that will become “dominant” throughout the European Unionwhich will lead to a increase in cases in a short space of time.
Via a report, the ECDC explains that “low” proportions of BA.4 and BA.5 have been detected in most European countries, although “in many of them there has been an increase in recent weeks”. In fact, in Portugal, BA.5 has become the dominant variantwith the consequent increase in cases.
In any case, they state that “There is no evidence” that the BA.4 and BA.5 variants are associated with greater severity of infection compared to the BA.1 and BA.2 variants, currently the majority in circulation. “However, as in previous waves, an increase in COVID-19 cases in general may lead to an increase in hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths,” warns the European body.
For this reason, they ask the countries to remain “attentive” to the signs of appearance and spread of variants BA.4 and BA.5; maintain sensitivity and representativeness of testing and genomic surveillance with timely reporting of sequences; and strengthen sentinel surveillance systems.
The BA.4 and BA.5 variants were first detected in Europe in March. Portugal was the first country to observe a significant increase in cases and in the proportion of one of these two variants (BA.5). As of May 30, BA.5 is the dominant variant in Portugal, with an estimated share of around 87 percent. However, data from recent weeks suggests that the peak of the BA.5 wave may have been reached.
Can they reinfect people who have just passed Covid?
In recent weeks, there has been a increasing proportion of BA.4 and BA.5 infections in many European countriesincluding Spain, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden.
Roger Paredes, head of the infectious disease service at the Can Ruti hospital in Badalona, warns in statements collected by La Vanguardia that in the coming weeks there will be “reinfections”since they have observed that people infected with BA.1 and BA.2 variants can hardly neutralize BA.4 and BA.5which can translate into a higher rate of reinfection by Covid.
This aspect has also been observed in people vaccinated with the third dose, so these sublineages have the ability to reinfect even people who have just passed the coronavirus.
The date on which the EMA hopes to approve the vaccine adapted to the variants
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) began this Wednesday, June 15, a real-time review of a version of the vaccine developed by the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech that is expected to provide better protection against specific variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Details on whether this adapted vaccine will work against one or more variants or sub-variants of SARS-CoV-2 are not yet known, although the EMA review will initially focus on data for the component targeting Omicron subvariants. This analysis will continue until there is enough data to approve this updated version from Pfizer, although it is expected that it can receive the go-ahead from the EMA around September.
“We are considering the month of September as a potential time for the approval of the first updated vaccines. Over the next few weeks, we anticipate making significant progress in this regard. The results of the clinical trial are expected to be available between June and August,” said Marco Cavaleri, head of Vaccination Strategy, earlier this month.
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