4/18/2024 0 Comments Banner youtube size![]() Getting vaccinated now can provide protection during this surge. COVID numbers have been rising for a few weeks now. You really need the newest COVID-19 vaccine formulation to be protected from severe illness from JN.1 and other recent variants. While the JN.1 variant does have a number of mutations that help it avoid immunity, laboratory studies suggest that the updated COVID-19 vaccine does increase the amount of antibodies that can recognize JN.1, and it is still effective in protecting against severe disease. Do we know yet how well this fall’s COVID-19 vaccines work against this variant? It's very similar to why we have annual influenza vaccines: The virus is changing, so we have to change the vaccine to make sure it is a good match with the virus variants that are causing infection right now. That, combined with the fact that your immunity from vaccination or infection tends to drop off over time, means that you won’t get a lot of protection from COVID-19 if you are relying on the vaccines you received nearly a year ago. The older vaccines were based on SARS-CoV-2 variants that are very different from variants circulating now. Are people who had an older vaccine or who’ve had COVID from another variant likely to be reinfected by JN.1? After exposure, it may take five days or more before you begin to develop symptoms. ![]() The period of infectiousness for JN.1 is very similar to that of the other omicron variants that have been circulating over the past year: You are contagious one to two days before your symptoms begin, and you are still contagious for at least two to three days after your symptoms begin-though some people can continue to have the detectable live virus for up to a week after symptom onset. What does the transmission timeline look like for JN.1? So far, only 8% of children and 19% of adults have received the latest vaccine, so a lot of people are missing out on protection from this virus. We just have to use these tools more effectively than we have over the last six months. This latest variant should be a reminder that we have tools to fight off COVID infection and minimize severe disease: Tests detect JN.1, the new vaccines protect against severe disease, and antivirals are still capable of treating infection from JN.1. What’s most important to understand about this variant? There is some suggestion that JN.1 may be causing more diarrhea than previous variants, but we don’t have any firm data supporting that yet. Symptoms of JN.1 infection are very similar to those of previous omicron variants, and it doesn’t seem to cause more severe disease, either. ![]() The increase in the number of cases caused by JN.1 corresponds to an overall increase in COVID-19 cases. It has the immune evasion of its parent but has now mutated to transmit more efficiently. The JN.1 variant is a descendant of BA.2.86 that has acquired the ability to transmit efficiently through an additional one or two mutations. However, the BA.2.86 variant never came to dominate among the group of SARS-CoV-2 variants that were circulating in the late summer/early fall of 2023. What is JN.1?Ī SARS-CoV-2 variant called BA.2.86 emerged a few months ago and caught virologists’ attention because it contains many more mutations-about 30 of them-to evade immunity than any other variant circulating at that time. Here, Pekosz explains what virologists are seeing, what this new variant means for case rates and treatments, and why it’s so important for more people to get the updated COVID-19 vaccine rolled out this fall. Virologists including Andy Pekosz, PhD, a professor in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, are paying attention. ![]() Now it is estimated to cause more than 60% of them. In early November 2023, the JN.1 variant caused less than 5% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S.
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