The first deliveries of vaccines targeting new strains of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus are scheduled for mid-October, the Ministry of Health told tvn24.pl. A new subvariant of the coronavirus called XEC is currently spreading around the world, which, according to experts, may soon be dominant and make its presence felt this winter.
SARS-CoV-2 is constantly mutating and new variants are emerging. In recent weeks, there has been information about new subvariant of the coronavirus XECwhich could soon become dominant. “The new subvariant is spreading quite quickly and looks like a potential next competitor to the currently dominant KP.3.1.1 subvariants, possibly competing with XEC,” said Mike Honey from Melbourne on the X platform in Australiadata analyst COVID-19.
New strain of SARS-CoV-2
Further changes in the virus have led to the need to create new vaccines against COVID-19. As the tvn24.pl portal learned on Wednesday, the Polish health ministry is working to deliver vaccines targeting new strains of the virus before winter. “We are working to deliver vaccines targeting the JN.1 variant. We are at the stage of deciding on national tenders. The first deliveries to Poland are scheduled for October 15.” – the Ministry of Health reported, adding that tenders were announced for 1,054,000 doses.
JN.1 is one of the variants of the long-dominant Omikron strain, which manifests itself in the form of further subvariants such as XEC and KP.3.1.1. A month ago, October was indicated in “Facts by Facts” by Dr. Paweł Grzesiowski. However, as he admitted, “the world cannot keep up with the production of new vaccines in line with changes in the virus.”
Dr. Pawel GrzesiowskiTVN24
New COVID-19 vaccines
The XEC sub-variant has already reached, among others, German and Ukrainehas not yet been officially confirmed in Poland. – According to my information, the XEC subvariant has not yet appeared in Poland – said on September 18, prof. dr hab. Agnieszka Szuster-Ciesielska from the Department of Virology and Immunology at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin. – According to epidemiologists, XEC is a “worthy” successor to KP.3.1.1, it will compete with it and perhaps it will be felt this winter – indicated the expert in an interview with the tvn24.pl portal.
New vaccines are supposed to provide the best protection against new strains of coronavirus. However, Prof. Agnieszka Szuster-Ciesielska assured that currently available vaccines also protect against severe COVID-19 in the case of the latest subvariant.
– Our immunity to SARS-CoV-2, whether post-vaccination or post-infection, lasts about six months. The subvariants that are currently appearing are their successors. All of this is contained in Omicron, so we can talk about the development of cross-immunity: if someone has had KP.3.1.1, they will certainly be protected against XEC to some extent. Post-vaccination protection can also be cross-protective – explained the virologist, emphasizing that older people should still get vaccinated.
Visualization of nerve cells attacked by SARS-CoV-2Shutterstock
SARS-CoV-2 – what are the symptoms of the new varieties?
Symptoms of the new Omicron strains are similar to those of the previous strains. They can include fever, sore throat, cough, extreme weakness, loss of smell, loss of appetite, diarrhea, and nausea.
The Chief Sanitary Inspector indicated in August that patients who had recently reported to him had complained mainly about symptoms such as fever, muscle pain and very great weakness. – However, there is no severe pneumonia, there is no pneumonia at all, but there is a cough, sore throat, headache, muscle pain and with good immunity after four or five days this infection goes away. And we could consider it a mild form of COVID and that would be the end of it, if not for these distant effects, which we do not know who will experience – he pointed out on TVN24.
Main image source: Elzbieta Krzysztof/Shutterstock