How the splintering of Omicron could shape Covid’s next phase - STAT
▻https://www.statnews.com/2022/10/06/bq11-omicron-variants-splintering-covid-next-phase
The immunity people have built up from vaccinations and infections will likely continue to offer strong protection against severe outcomes for most, particularly if they’ve stayed up-to-date with boosters.)
But the concern about these newest sublineages is not just that they could drive up cases once more. Already, some monoclonal antibody treatments were rendered useless and had to be abandoned as the virus evolved. And in some lab experiments, the remaining antibody therapies — bebtelovimab, as well as Evusheld — can’t stand up to some of the new variants. (Just on Monday, the Food and Drug Administration warned that Evusheld, which is given to immunocompromised people to bolster their protection as a pre-exposure therapy, can’t neutralize certain SARS-2 variants.) That could leave people at high risk for severe Covid even more vulnerable.
Peacock added one note: While it’s possible that the future #SARS-2 strains we’ll be dealing with will continue to be descended from Omicron, another Omicron-like event could occur. That is, a variant from a distant part of SARS-2’s family tree could appear suddenly and outcompete everything else in the landscape, just as the original Omicron did last year around Thanksgiving.