MEDSCAPE … Four [COVID-19] Omicron subvariants … will be the most common strains going from person to person this winter, new research predicts…. BQ.1, BQ1.1, XBB, and XBB.1 … [and they] are the most resistant to neutralizing antibodies, researcher Qian Wang, PhD, and colleagues report. This means you have no or "markedly reduced" protection against infection from [them], even if you've already had COVID-19 or are vaccinated and boosted multiple times, including with a bivalent vaccine. [And] all available monoclonal antibody treatments are mostly or completely ineffective against these subvariants.
... The findings are definitely "worrisome," said Eric Topol, MD, founder and director of the Scripps Translational Research Institute in La Jolla, California, and editor-in-chief of Medscape [even with evidence from] Singapore and France [suggesting] that at least two of these variants [are less damaging than expected … — it appears that] COVID-19 vaccinations and prior infections can still reduce the risk for serious outcomes such as hospitalization and death, the researchers write [and the CDC concurs].
The "Alarming antibody evasion properties of rising SARS-CoV-2 BQ and XBB subvariants" study was published online this week in the journal Cell….
The article goes on to explain that existing antibodies in the blood —including 19 of 23 tested monoclonal antibodies— were found ineffective with these variants. It anticipates that the US is likely to again experience disproportionate impact compared to other developed countries, due to factors similar to those before..
Among those most at risk, “The lack of an effective monoclonal antibody treatment ‘poses a serious problem for millions of immunocompromised individuals who do not respond robustly to COVID-19 vaccines,’ the researchers write.”
Their work was done on blood samples; they call for clinical studies and for research into response of the immune system against these subvariants.
More plain-English discussion at the top medscape link.
Research highlights, summary, and graphical abstracts are viewable at https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(22)01531-8 “Alarming antibody evasion properties of rising SARS-CoV-2 BQ and XBB subvariants”