A new Omicron subvariant with accelerated growth in the United States is of concern

The accelerated growth of a new variant of omicron (XBB.1.5) in the United States anticipates the same thing to happen in Puerto Rico in the first two weeks of 2023, the Dr. Marcos López Casillasresearch officer at the Public Health Trust.

In interview with The new daythe expert urged the population to be more cautious and continue to protect themselves from the infection, both with the use of masks and with the bivalent vaccine.

“Vaccination works. Yes, it lowers its effectiveness a bit (compared to new subvariants like this), but it’s not that it doesn’t work. It’s the best we have right now,” she reiterated.

As of December 28, only 241,116 doses of the bivalent vaccine had been administered in Puerto Rico, for a total of 9.31% of the population eligible to receive it.

In Puerto Rico, he said, two cases of XBB.1.5 have already been found. In the United States, meanwhile, they account for 41% of new cases.

“It is a recombinant variant of BA.2 (by omicron),” López Casillas indicated. The expert explained that when a person is infected with two variants, they recombine and create a new version of the virus. This, he said, is common but doesn’t generally come to light.

On this occasion, with XBB.1.5, however, it has transcended through more aggressive behavior in terms of prevalence.

In the United States, for example, in Region 1 which includes the states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island, the prevalence of XBB.1.5 is 75.3%. In New York state alone, meanwhile, the prevalence is 72.2 percent.

“Studies have been carried out which have established that XBB lowers the efficiency of the antibodies produced by the vaccine, including the bivalent one. It’s not that it doesn’t work, it’s that efficiency decreases, but it’s the best we have to protect ourselves from the virus,” he insisted.

Due to the frequency of travelers to New York and other states where this subvariant is more prevalent, he anticipated, more such cases should be identified in Puerto Rico in the coming weeks. The infections should also continue to rise, he added, as a result of the Christmas holidays.

In Puerto Rico, BQ.1 is currently the predominant variant, with 65% of sequences performed in the last three weeks.

“People have let their guard down,” López Casillas lamented, noting that the positivity rate for COVID-19 in Puerto Rico it is high, at 31%.