The Epidemiological Features of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Subvariant BA.5 and Its Evasion of the Neutralizing Activity of Vaccination and Prior Infection

Dandan Tian; Wenjian Nie; Yanhong Sun; Qing Ye

doi:10.3390/vaccines10101699

The Epidemiological Features of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Subvariant BA.5 and Its Evasion of the Neutralizing Activity of Vaccination and Prior Infection

Vaccines (Basel). 2022 Oct 11;10(10):1699. doi: 10.3390/vaccines10101699.

Authors

Dandan Tian¹, Wenjian Nie¹, Yanhong Sun¹, Qing Ye¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health, National Children's Regional Medical Center, Hangzhou 310052, China.

Abstract

From December 2021 to May 2022, the Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 subvariants successively became the most dominant strains in many countries around the world. Subsequently, Omicron subvariants have emerged, and Omicron has been classified into five main lineages, including BA.1, BA.2, BA.3, BA.4, BA.5, and some sublineages (BA.1.1, BA.2.12.1, BA.2.11, BA.2.75, BA.4.6, BA.5.1, and BA.5.2). The recent emergence of several Omicron subvariants has generated new concerns about further escape from immunity induced by prior infection and vaccination and the creation of new COVID-19 waves globally. In particular, BA.5 (first found in southern Africa, February 2022) displays a higher transmissibility than other Omicron subvariants and is replacing the previously circulating BA.1 and BA.2 in several countries.

Keywords: BA.5; COVID-19; Omicron; SARS-CoV-2; sublineages; vaccine efficacy.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the key project of the Provincial Ministry for Construction, Health Science and Technology Project Plan of Zhejiang Province (WKJ-ZJ-2128), Key Laboratory of Women’s Reproductive Health Research of Zhejiang Province (No. ZDFY2020-RH-0006), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant/Award Number: U20A20351) and Key Research and Development Plan of Zhejiang Province (Grant/Award Number: 2021C03079).