NYC Health Officials Say Omicron Subvariant XBB.1.5 Could Be More Likely To Infect Vaccinated

In what some argue is the latest in a series of embarrassing and telling admissions by those managing the COVID pandemic, New York City health officials have acknowledged that the Omicron XBB.1.5 variant of COVID-19 is more likely to infect individuals who have been vaccinated.

The acknowledgment follows Thursday’s CDC warning that vaccines are linked to “severe adverse” side effects in children and Friday’s announcement that the CDC was “investigating” reports of the correlation between the vaccine and ischemic stroke issues in senior adults.

The Defender, a Children’s Health Defense News platform, reported the death rate of people 18- to 49-years-old in the United States has increased by approximately 40% since 2021. Their study cites death certificate data collected by the CDC.

On Monday, a spokesperson for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said the “Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 now accounts for 73 percent of all sequenced COVID-19 cases in NYC. XBB.1.5 is the most transmissible form of COVID-19 that we know of to date and may be more likely to infect people who have been vaccinated or already had COVID-19.”

The New York City Department of Health’s statement follows a summer report by the National Center for Biotechnology Information noting:

“Studies showed that immune function among vaccinated individuals 8 months after the administration of two doses of COVID-19 vaccine was lower than that among the unvaccinated individuals. According to European Medicines Agency recommendations, frequent COVID-19 booster shots could adversely affect the immune response.”

At this time, New York Health officials are urging residents to be vaccinated and receive the updated COVID-19 booster shot, stating that doing so “is still the best way to protect yourself from hospitalization and death from COVID-19, including from these new variants.”

Likewise, a December CDC statement noted: “COVID-19 vaccines are effective at protecting people—especially those who are up to date— from getting seriously ill, being hospitalized, and even dying.”

In early January, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the XBB.1.5 subvariant had been reported in more than 25 countries.

The WHO reported that the XBB.1.5 variant shows signs of increased transmissibility but is not known to increase the severity of symptoms or the mortality rate.

The Epoch Times noted that in a risk assessment document published Jan. 11, New York Health officials found the XBB.1.5 variant “may contribute to a surge in cases around the world, but it does not carry any mutation known to be associated with potential change in severity.”