US Lab Tests Suggest New Covid-19 Variant BA.2.86 May Be Less Contagious and Less Immune-Evasive Than Feared

September 5, 2023

(CNN) – Two teams of US scientists have completed lab experiments testing the antibodies from vaccinated and infected Americans to see how well they might be able to fend off currently circulating variants of the virus that causes Covid-19, including the highly mutated BA.2.86. Their results match up almost exactly, and the news – at least when it comes to BA.2.86, which has also been dubbed Pirola – is very good. Our immune systems can recognize and fight off this variant as well as, and perhaps even a bit better than, the currently circulating offshoots of the XBB variant. (Read More)