Pointing To Covid Surge, White House Urges Americans To Get Boosted
The BA.5 subvariant of Omicron is responsible for about 65% of covid cases, officials say, and could push infections higher in coming weeks. They urged eligible people to get vaccine booster shots now and not to wait for potential updated boosters targeting Omicron subvariants.
Stat:
Citing Omicron BA.5 Risks, White House Recommends Covid-19 Boosters
The Biden administration on Tuesday urged the public to strengthen their protections against Covid-19, noting that the BA.5 subvariant of Omicron has become the dominant strain in the country. (Joseph, 7/12)
CIDRAP:
White House Officials Push Boosters As BA.5 Surge Intensifies
[Ashish Jha, MD, the White House committee's coordinator] acknowledged that some people may be holding off on getting boosted, anticipating a rise in COVID activity in the fall, while others might be waiting for an Omicron-specific booster. Jha said getting boosted now won't preclude people from getting another dose in the fall or winter when the Omicron-specific version is expected to be available. (Schnirring, 7/12)
Axios:
White House: COVID Booster "Will Not Preclude" Shot For Later Variants
People who get boosted for COVID-19 now will still be eligible to get a variant-specific vaccine in the fall, the White House COVID-19 Response Team said Tuesday. (Gonzalez, 7/12)
More on the spread of covid —
CNBC:
Covid: Hospitalizations Have Doubled Since May As Omicron BA.5 Sweeps U.S.
People hospitalized with Covid-19 have doubled since early May as the even more transmissible omicron BA.5 subvariant has caused another wave of infection across the country, U.S. health officials said Tuesday. But deaths from Covid still remain relatively low given the number of infections right now, the officials said. (Kimball, 7/12)
The Wall Street Journal:
Hopes Of Covid-19 Reprieve Fade As BA.5 Subvariant Takes Over
Covid-19 is circulating widely as the BA.5 Omicron subvariant elevates the risk of reinfections and rising case counts, spoiling chances for a summer reprieve from the pandemic across much of the U.S. Covid-19 levels are high in a fifth of U.S. counties, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s metric based on case and hospital data, a share that has been mostly rising since mid-April. BA.5 is estimated to represent nearly two in three recent U.S. cases that are averaging just more than 100,000 a day, CDC data show. (Kamp and Hopkins, 7/12)
San Francisco Chronicle:
BA.2.75 COVID Variant Is Spreading In The Bay Area. Can It Evade Immunity?
Seven cases have been recorded in the U.S. - two in California and one each in Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Texas and Washington. Both California cases were detected in Bay Area wastewater sampling in mid-June - though since genetic sequencing is limited, experts say it is likely far more widespread. (Hwang, 7/12)
