"What to Know About the New XEC COVID Variant: Key Insights and Implications"

A new COVID variant named XEC is emerging, having been first detected in May and now accounting for approximately 5.7% of new cases in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This strain has gained attention as it spreads in parts of Europe, although experts remain cautious about its potential impact.

Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, noted, “We don’t know if it will have legs and soar up in the charts, but it has features that could make it one to watch.” The variant is a recombinant of two strains, KS.1.1 and KP.3.3, indicating that genetic information was exchanged between them.

Rick Bright, an immunologist and former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, highlighted ongoing mutations in COVID, pointing out that our current vaccines may struggle to control the virus.

Currently, while COVID levels in the U.S. remain high, wastewater data indicates a downward trend after a peak in August. Bill Hanage, an epidemiologist from Harvard, remarked that there is no conclusive evidence that XEC is significantly more contagious than existing variants, suggesting its limited spread could be due to specific circumstances rather than inherent transmissibility.

Virologist Marc Johnson confirmed that XEC initially surged in Germany and has spread to neighboring countries, but its success may be attributed to chance rather than a viral advantage. Experts are not overly concerned about XEC completely overtaking other variants in the near future.

As for vaccine efficacy, XEC belongs to the omicron family and is closely related to KP.2, which is targeted by the updated vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. Preliminary assessments suggest that existing vaccines may still provide substantial protection against this new variant.

However, Bright cautioned that definitive clinical data is needed to evaluate how well the updated vaccines will work against XEC, underscoring the importance of ongoing surveillance and research.