Will your last COVID vaccine work against new ‘FLiRT’ variants?

...Both FLiRT variants are considered very similar to JN.1, health officials say, with early data suggesting only a couple of changes in their spike proteins.

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However, because the FLiRT variants are relatively new, there isn’t enough data to show whether the vaccine or immunity from a recent case of COVID will provide effective protection against them.

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Researchers estimate vaccines have saved 154 million lives over past half-century

An international team of health and medical researchers including workers at the WHO, working with economists and modeling specialists, has found that the use of vaccines to prevent or treat disease has saved the lives of approximately 154 million people over the past half-century.

In their study, published in The Lancet, the group used mathematical and statistical modeling to develop estimates for lives saved due to vaccines and then added them together to find the total.

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New COVID variants are a reminder of coronavirus reality Even with COVID at a low point, the virus is still circulating and evolving. Adriel Bettelheim Axios

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As much as the public wants to move on — and has moved on — from the pandemic, uncertainty about the coronavirus' evolution means those who remain the most vigilant can't fully shake the pandemic experience.