New study suggests latest omicron sub-variant four times more vaccine-resistant

A new study in the US suggests that the latest Omicron sub-variant that is the most prevalent in the country, is four times more resistant to current vaccines.

The announcement by the Mayo Clinic on Friday, July 15 will be of concern to health authorities around the world who are banking on updated vaccines to protect their citizens from another pandemic.

The BA.5 omicron sub-variant, which is considered “hyper contagious,” is more resistant to RNA vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna. Worryingly the variant accounts for around two-thirds of all infections in the US, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Despite the vaccine resistance that is causing an increasing number of hospitalisations, May say that vaccination is still a better option than not being vaccinated. Current stats show that unvaccinated people are five times more likely to contract the virus than those who are vaccinated.

The stats also show that if you are not vaccinated you are 7.5 times more likely to be hospitalised and 14 to 15 times more likely to die according to the Head of the Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group Dr. Gregory Poland.

He said: “Let me make a clear, clear point here that’s a little tough to hear: Whether you’ve been vaccinated, whether you’ve been previously infected, whether you’ve been previously infected and vaccinated, you have very little protection against BA.5 in terms of getting infected or having mild to moderate infection.

“You have good protection against dying, being hospitalised or ending up on a ventilator.”

Whilst all other variants have declined BA.5 continues to spread at a rapid rate with daily infection rates up across the EU. Estimates in the UK put the number who test positive for the virus between five and ten per cent of the population.

Vaccine producers are working frantically to keep up with the latest sub-variants, making sure that each batch that goes out is effective against the latest strain.

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