The omicron variant offshoot — a highly contagious spinoff of BA.2 that is gaining steam in the U.S. — caused more than one in three new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. last week.
“We’re set up for another big wave in the summer. I think that’s quite possible,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College School of Medicine.
The CDC estimated it caused about 40% of cases in the mid-Atlantic states and more than 36% of cases in the South.Researchers believe several omicron subvariants have a mutation that helps the virus bind more tightly to our cells and hide from the antibodies that try to block the virus from infecting us.
In a paper published in the medical journal JAMA, Food and Drug Administration officials say current vaccines could be updated yearly to target specific coronavirus variants going around.
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