The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated on Aug. 23 that the new BA.2.86 COVID-19 lineage may cause infection in people who received vaccines or previously had the virus.
The CDC stated that it’s too soon to know whether this might cause more severe illness than previous variants. But because of the high number of mutations detected in this lineage, there are concerns about the effectiveness of immunity from vaccines and previous infections, according to the agency.