Could the new variants still be a game changer?

For more than a month, France faces The seventh wave of pollution for Sars-CoV-2. After the Omicron BA.1 variant, at the beginning of winter, and then BA.2 in March, this Now BA.4 and BA.5 categories This leads to a new spike in cases seen in early summer. “They are cousins ​​of BA.2Olivier Schwartz, head of the Virology and Immunity Unit at the Institut Pasteur, explains. BA.2 specifically has three mutations in the spike protein, which is the key to allowing the virus to invade our cells, giving it a reproductive advantage. BA.4 and BA.5 have identical mutations in the spike that allow better affinity for human cells, better transfection and slightly better blocking antibodies. This explains the resurgence of pollution.

All these subtypes They are from the Omicron variant that appeared in France last December. Especially epidemics, each of which caused waves of pollution at a level…