The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have reported a rise in the prevalence of a new COVID-19 variant, BA.2.86. The CDC estimates that nearly 1 in 10 new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. are from this variant, a figure that has tripled in the past two weeks. The variant is spreading fastest in the Northeast, with 13.1% of cases in the New York and New Jersey region attributed to the strain.
Despite the rapid spread, the CDC considers the BA.2.86 variant to pose a 'low' public health risk. The agency has also noted a nationwide increase in emergency department visits linked to COVID-19, potentially driven by a descendant of BA.2.86 called JN.1.
In response to the rise in cases from the BA.2.86 strain and its descendants, the WHO has upgraded its classification of these variants to a 'variant of interest'. This classification is given to variants with genetic changes that are predicted or known to affect virus characteristics, such as transmissibility, disease severity, immune escape, diagnostic or therapeutic escape, and are identified as causing significant community transmission or multiple COVID-19 clusters, in multiple countries.
In the midst of the spread of this new variant, the WHO has approved Novavax's updated COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use. The Novavax vaccine, a protein-based vaccine approved for people aged 12 and up, differs from the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are mRNA-based. This season's vaccines, including Novavax's, are expected to work against the JN.1 variant, as they do against BA.2.86.