The growth rate of the BA.5 sub-variable has surpassed all previous genealogies of the virus, according to a recent Ontario Public Health (PHO) report. Dr. Fahad Razak, scientific director of the province’s COVID-19 advisory board, said there was cause for concern as BA.5 became the dominant executive. Razak, a physician at Unity Health Toronto, said the variant is much better at overcoming immunity, whether that immunity comes from a vaccine, a previous infection, or both. He said the immunity to the latest variant was “much weaker” compared to previous Omicron subtypes such as BA.1 and BA.2. “It does not give you much protection against BA.5,” Razak told CBC Radio Metro Morning on Tuesday. “It’s quite mutated now, BA.5, that it has essentially presented your immune system with a different surface that it does not recognize and that is the challenge.” As of June 17, just over 18 percent of people with two doses of COVID-19 vaccine treated for the virus had the BA.5 subtype, according to PHO data.
Slow increase in the level of sewage contamination
In Ontario, providing a clear, complete picture of the state of COVID-19 has become increasingly difficult in recent months as the government cut back on laboratory testing and stopped publishing school-related data. On June 11, the county also changed its weekly COVID-19 data report after more than two years of daily updates. (Ontario COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Board) However, the latest wastewater data shown in the control panel of the scientific panel show an increase in the level of contamination throughout the province. Razak said the increase in the level of infection observed in recent weeks was significant, though “not as strong as before.” By easing most public health measures, including lifting mask orders earlier this month, Razak is urging Ontarians to continue wearing masks in high-risk areas, such as public transportation and offices and malls. “Everything has to do with risk reduction, there is no longer black and white here,” he said. “It’s about taking the individual steps you can to reduce the risk where you can.”
New vaccines may be available this fall
Razak said those taking the third and fourth doses of the vaccine still had “very strong protection” from serious illness. He noted, however, that health professionals do not have enough information to know if subtype BA.5 is more severe than others. The bivalent vaccines, a new generation of vaccines currently being developed, will provide more protection against subtypes including BA.5, Razak said. Bivalent vaccines – which have two components to activate two different parts of the immune system on two different surfaces of the virus – may be available in the fall, Razak said. “Whatever you do now, there will be a new round of eligibility,” he said. “Even if you take this fourth dose, go inside knowing that you may need to get a new vaccine, one of these new twin vaccines, as early as the fall.”
