The United States currently records more than 5,000 Covid-related hospitalizations per day. The strong increase in contamination is explained by the arrival of the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants.
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Essential protection. The American health authorities insisted, Tuesday, July 12, on the importance of vaccines against severe forms of Covid, even if the sub-variants of Omicron seem to escape the immune response more. The United States records some 5,100 Covid-related hospitalizations every day, “double compared to admissions in May”noted the director of the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), Rochelle Walensky, during a press briefing.
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This increase is linked to the meteoric rise of the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants, detected for the first time in April and which represent respectively 16% and 65% of the virus currently circulating in the United States. Although they don’t appear to be more dangerous than the other variants, “they are more contagious and evade the immune response more”whether acquired by vaccination or by a previous infection, explained Rochelle Walensky.
But the effectiveness of vaccines against severe forms and death remains “probably high for BA.4 and BA.5”, she added, calling on Americans to receive all the recommended doses as soon as possible. Faced with these sub-variants, “we must not panic or let them upset our lives, but we must take them seriously”added immunologist Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s top adviser on the health crisis.
Many Americans, out of vaccine fatigue or because they expect a new, more targeted generation in the fall, are delaying receiving these injections.