COVID cases related to 'escape variants' continue to rise - CDC
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The latest CDC data indicates that the share of COVID-19 cases attributed to "escape variants" BQ.1 and BQ1.1 are continuing to rise.
For the week ending Oct. 22, BQ.1 accounted for 9.4% of nationwide cases, while BQ.1.1 accounted for 7.2%.

Last week, these Omicron subvariants accounted 5.7% each.
BQ.1 and BQ1.1 are a concern for public health experts as current COVID therapies -- particularly monoclonal antibodies -- may be ineffective in treating them.
However, Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and chief of the COVID Task Force at the New England Complex Systems Institute, believes the updated COVID vaccines should provide protection against the BQ variant family.
Although the updated COVID booster shots provide protection against the BA.5 and BA.4.6 variants which account for the vast majority of cases (62.2% and 11.3%, respectively), those variants' share of the total has been declining in recent weeks.
COVID vaccine makers: Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA), Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX), and Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX).
Pfizer (PFE) has said it will raise the price of its COVID vaccine.