Los Angeles, July 16 (SocialNews.XYZ) The BA.5 Omicron subvariant, now the dominant coronavirus strain in the US, is four times more resistant to Covid-19 vaccines, according to a new study published in Nature.
The study found the variant is four times more resistant to messenger RNA vaccines than earlier strains of Omicron, which include Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines, Xinhua news agency reported.
The strain is "hypercontagious" and is contributing to increases in hospitalisations and ICU admissions, said the Mayo Clinic in a report on Thursday.
The BA.5 strain represented 65 per cent of Covid-19 cases in the country in the week ending July 9, according to the latest data from the US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.
Unvaccinated people have about a five times higher chance of contracting the virus than those who are vaccinated and boosted, while chances of hospitalisation are 7.5 times higher, and chances of death are 14 to 15 times higher, said Gregory Poland, Head of the Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group.
Source: IANS
About Gopi
Gopi Adusumilli is a Programmer. He is the editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.
He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various authenticated news sources.
When it comes to writing he likes to write about current world politics and Indian Movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgment towards any.
He can be reached at gopi@socialnews.xyz