Congratulations, everyone! It’s time for another COVID variant! Did you think having already been vaccinated and boosted was gonna get you through this one? Think again!
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on Wednesday that the emerging BA.2.86 COVID-19 variant could potentially lead to infections in those who not only had COVID before, but have previously been vaccinated.
“The large number of mutations in this variant raises concerns of greater escape from existing immunity from vaccines and previous infections compared with other recent variants,” the CDC stated in its risk assessment summary for this new lineage of COVID. “For example, one analysis of mutations suggests the difference may be as large as or greater than that between BA.2 and XBB.1.5, which circulated nearly a year apart.”
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Are you scared yet? Well, maybe the CDC will just have to try harder.
Americans have largely gotten over COVID at this point, with only a select few still too paranoid to ditch the masks. I can’t remember the last time I saw someone wearing a mask in public. Even the Biden administration quietly admitted the pandemic was over back in April. At this point, most of the population has acquired COVID antibodies. There’s a reason why deaths and hospitalizations are way, way, way down, and people have long resumed living life normally again and are looking back at the lockdowns and the months of masking with disgust. But with an eerie sense of déjà vu, it feels like we’re once again in the thick of the pandemic and being conditioned to believe something terrible is on the horizon and we have to do something about it.
And the CDC is on it!
“Based on what CDC knows now, existing tests used to detect and medications used to treat COVID-19 appear to be effective with this variant,” the CDC explains. However, there’s a rather interesting and significant caveat to this. According to the CDC, “Scientists are evaluating the effectiveness of the forthcoming, updated COVID-19 vaccine.”
And there it is! A new updated vaccine is in the works. If you thought life was back to normal because you got vaccinated and got boosted every month, you better put your tail back between your legs and sign up to get another updated version of the vaccine. Those Big Pharma profits won’t make themselves, after all.
