New Covid variant XEC spreading rapidly, should we be worried?

The variant, called XEC, was first detected in Germany in August and appears to have a growth advantage over other circulating variants but it is not a radically different variant...

In other words, more cases of new variants are spotted in those countries that typically sequence more COVID samples through routine surveillance programmes...

However, XEC appears to have a growth advantage and is spreading faster than other circulating variants, suggesting it will become the dominant variant globally in the next few months...

The campaign for autumn booster in the UK will start in October with an updated vaccine targeting the JN.1 variant, which XEC derives from, assuring a good level of protection against severe illness...

Several other closely related variants are being monitored, such as the MV.1 variant, which like XEC also has the T22N mutation in the spike protein..

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