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Pfizer Inc said Thursday that its updated COVID-19 vaccine, which is being tested against emerging variants, showed neutralizing activity against the “Eris” subvariant in a study conducted in mice.
Pfizer, along with its German spouse BioNTech SE, along with COVID-19 vaccine brands Moderna and Novavax, have created versions of their vaccines, which target the XBB. 1. 5 subvariant.
EG. 5, nicknamed through some “Eris”, is of the XBB. 1. 5 subvariant and a sublineage of the still dominant Omicron variant.
EG. 5 accounted for about 17% of COVID-19 cases in the United States, according to the most recent data.
In the U. S. , COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased by more than 40% since recent lows in June, but are still more than 90% below the peaks reached in the January 2022 Omicron outbreak.
EG. 5 has also been detected in China, South Korea, Japan and Canada, among countries.
The World Health Organization has classified EG. 5 as a “variant of interest,” saying it should be monitored more intensively than others because of mutations that can make it more contagious or severe.