Omicron Sublineages Likely Evade Vaccines, Natural Immunity
- BA.4, BA.5 sublineages more infectious than predecessors
- South African scientists discovered strains this month
A health worker administers a Covid-19 vaccine during a rural vaccination drive in Mpumalanga, South Africa.
Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
New omicron sublineages, discovered by South African scientists this month, are likely able to evade vaccines and natural immunity from prior infections, the head of gene sequencing units that produced a study on the strains said.
The BA.4 and BA.5 sublineages appear to be more infectious than the earlier BA.2 lineage, which itself was more infectious than the original omicron variant, said Tulio de Oliveira, the head of the institutes at the universities of KwaZulu-Natal and Stellenbosch.