Dr. Stephanie Silvera Comments on BA.5 Variant
Posted in: College News and Events, Master of Public Health News, Public Health
Dr. Stephanie Silvera, Professor in the Public Health Department, recently commented on the BA.5 variant of COVID-19. BA.5, now the dominant coronavirus subvariant in New Jersey and the U.S., has shown resistance to COVID-19 vaccines, making experts nervous. Worse, prior immunity doesn’t seem to be the shield it once was as protection from recent infection appears to offer reduced or even no armor against the strain.
“It seems to be by far the most transmissible variant that we have seen,” Dr. Silvera.
She added, “The rate of reinfection does seem to be up and the time of that protective bubble, which we used to think was about 90 days, seems to be diminishing with this BA.5 because it is so highly transmissible. And because it does evade immune protection much more efficiently than previous sublineages or other variants that have been out there. We’re starting to see people who’ve had omicron in January or even April who are now being reinfected.”