While the curve of Covid-19 contaminations is rising once more in Belgium, doctors are noticing that the symptoms can be longer and more aggressive, even if hospitalizations remain under control.
The BA.5 variant, the youngest of the Omicron lineage and now the majority in Belgium, is capable of partially bypassing the immune defenses caused by previous infections or by vaccination. The BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants have a “certain advantage: the Spike protein is less well recognized by neutralizing antibodies indique le virologue Steven Van Gucht. These variants can therefore cause a risk of earlier reinfection, a risk added to the immune decline, which does not last long with Omicron. We notice that three and a half months following a booster vaccination, there is sometimes only 75% protection once morest severe forms of the virus and following five months, we arrive at around 10% protection. .
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