The New COVID variant mentioned in the post quickly garnered significant attention, accumulating over 300 likes within a single day.
On August 29th, an Instagram post stirred controversy by asserting that the CDC had declared a heightened contagion rate among vaccinated individuals compared to the unvaccinated, alluding to a new COVID variant.
According to an article published by USA Today, an Instagram post on August 29th sparked controversy by claiming that the CDC had stated a new COVID variant was more contagious among vaccinated individuals than the unvaccinated.
The post received significant attention, with over 300 likes within a day and a similar version garnering over 3,000 likes in three days. However, this claim about the new COVID variant is highly misleading and distorts the actual information provided by the CDC.
In reality, the CDC had been tracking a new COVID variant known as BA.2.86, commonly referred to as Pirola, since August. The Instagram post misinterpreted a line from the CDC’s risk assessment, which mentioned that the new variant “may be more capable of causing infection in people who have previously had COVID-19 or who have received COVID-19 vaccines.”
This does not mean the variant is more contagious among vaccinated individuals than the unvaccinated.
Instead, the CDC was warning that individuals with prior immunity, whether from previous infection or vaccination, might be more susceptible to this new COVID variant compared to earlier strains of the virus.
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The CDC further clarified that the new COVID variant raised concerns about potentially having a greater ability to evade immunity from vaccines and previous infections.
According to an article published by AP News, it’s essential to note that there is no credible evidence to suggest that vaccinated individuals are more vulnerable to any form of new COVID variant infection than the unvaccinated.
In fact, the CDC has consistently emphasized that vaccines offer protection against severe disease, hospitalization, and death for people of all ages, including those exposed to new COVID variant.
Public health officials are working on updated new COVID variant vaccines expected to be available in the fall, which will be designed to address emerging variants like Pirola.
The CDC believes these updated new COVID variant vaccines will remain effective at reducing severe disease and hospitalization.