West Virginia COVID officials talk new monovalent vaccine and EG.5 variant

Luckily, a new monovalent COVID-19 vaccine, targeting the current dominant variant, is set to be delivered to pharmacies by the third week in September.

“Protect yourself, and ready your immune system,” Marsh said.

COVID-19 vaccines released in 2022 were bivalent, meaning they protected people from one of the two most common variants of the virus at the time, the original strain, which originated in Wuhan, China, and the BA5 variant more commonly known as Omicron, Marsh said.

Now, in 2023, the most common variants of COVID-19 are derivatives of the XBB family, including the EG.5 variant more commonly known as Eris. And, not only are vaccinated people not protected against this new variant, but EG.5 is more capable of evading the immune system, even if people who have received all recommended doses of the vaccine so far, Marsh said.

The XBB family of variants account for more than 95% of current COVID cases in the United States, Marsh said.

Hospitalizations, including ICU visits in New York City, have doubled with the surge of EG.5 this year, and West Virginia has seen an increase in hospitalizations from COVID-19 by about 12%, but has no ICU admissions as of yet, Marsh said.

While EG.5 is more capable of evading the immune system, it is not any more deadly than previous variants of the virus, Marsh said.

The new family of variants has a similar set of symptoms to past variants, with the latest form of COVID not causing a more severe illness.

EG.5 is also not known to effect the sensations of taste and smell as the Wuhan and Omicron variants had. This is because the original virus was able to injure the nerves associated with these senses due to people not having any immunity to the virus yet, Marsh said.

Inoculation and anti-bodies from contracting the virus have built up in people over the past few years, and newer variants are no longer able to spread to those adjacent nerves and infect them, Marsh said.

COVID-19 will be with us for a long time, said state Health Officer Dr. Matt Christiansen, with vaccines being tailored to the dominant variants of the virus each year.

The new monovalent vaccine will be delivered to patients as a single dose, as opposed to the two-dose system that the bivalent vaccine was administered in, Marsh said.

All West Virginians are encouraged to use the COVID calculator on vaccinate.wv.gov to learn which shots they are eligible to receive, Christiansen said.

If one experiences any cold-like symptoms, it’s a good idea to conduct a COVID test to be absolutely sure the virus hasn’t infected you.

If one tests positive for COVID-19, it’s still necessary to isolate, especially from high-risk populations such as small children, the elderly and the infirm, Christiansen said.