Covid and flu vaccines have started to be rolled out across England this week amid concern over a new coronavirus variant.
The latest strain, known as BA.2.86, was detected in the UK at the end of August following a Covid outbreak in a care home in Norfolk, which saw 33 out of 38 residents test positive for the virus, as well as 12 members of staff. Lab tests later showed that 22 residents had the BA.2.86 variant, along with six members of staff.
While BA.2.86 – nicknamed Pirola – has not yet been classified as a “variant of concern”, scientists have said it carries a high number of mutations and is being closely monitored by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). The variant is believed to have evolved from Omicron’s BA.2 subvariant that sparked a surge of Covid cases early last year, and has also been detected in the US, Israel, Canada, Denmark, South Africa, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and Thailand.
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It is still too soon to assess the severity of the new strain, but the UKHSA has warned that the care home outbreak is “an early indicator” that the variant may be sufficiently transmissible to have impact in settings where people are in close contact. Enough unlinked cases of Pirola have now been detected across the UK to suggest it is circulating among the community, prompting the Covid and flu vaccination programmes to start earlier than planned.
Professor Devi Sridhar, chairwoman of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, explained to Sky News: “It’s still a sub lineage of Omicron and so in that sense, we’re still in the Omicron age, but I think here what you’re seeing is its ability to reinfect those who have already had a previous version of Omicron as well as how transmissible it is, and so those are the concerns.
“But I would say that early studies are showing that it is not more severe in terms of its health impact, and also that it’s not having a higher hospitalisation rate, and those are the two things that we’re watching carefully in terms of future variants. What we know is it’s highly infectious and so we are seeing this spread rapidly in those kind of environments where you have many people in an environment where they can infect each other.
“I think it comes back to the booster question of who should actually be getting a booster this autumn as we head into winter, given that we know protection wanes from a vaccine over time. There is a real case to be made for widening the criteria for who gets a booster and as we already know, moving sooner so that people have that protection if they are exposed to a new sub lineage of Omicron.”
Covid symptoms to look for
As scientists are still gathering data about the latest variant, it is too early to know if the Pirola strain causes different symptoms to its predecessors, but experts believe they are likely to be similar.
The latest data from the ZOE Health Study lists the most common symptoms of Covid being reported right now. The three main warning signs to look for are:
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A sore throat
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A runny or blocked nose
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Sneezing
Other common signs can include a cough (with or without phlegm), a headache, a hoarse voice, muscle aches and pains, and an altered sense of smell. If you experience any of these symptoms, or have tested positive, NHS guidance says you should stay at home and avoid contact with others until you feel better, or do not have a high temperature.
Covid and flu vaccinations began on September 11 – a month earlier than planned – with adult care home residents and those most at risk from winter illnesses in line to receive them first. This includes:
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people in care homes
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the clinically vulnerable
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those aged 65 and over
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health and social care staff
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carers
The annual flu vaccine will also be made available to these groups at the same time wherever possible, the Department of Health and Social care has said. If you’re eligible for the Covid or flu vaccines, you should wait to be contacted by the NHS to let you know when you can get it.
Health Minister, Maria Caulfield said: “It is absolutely vital the most vulnerable groups receive a vaccine to strengthen their immunity over winter to protect themselves and reduce pressure on the NHS. I encourage anyone invited for a vaccination – including those yet to have their first jab – to come forward as soon as possible.”
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