A leading Dublin immunologist has warned that that a new Covid-19 subvariants could see vaccines become "less effective".
Dr Kingston Mills is Professor of Immunology at Trinity College Dublin, and he told Dublin Live that there are new Omicron subvariants currently circulating in Ireland, such as BA4 and BA5 and there are also concerns of a new XBB.1.5 variant that has been detected in the US.
He said: "It's not Omicron anymore, there are subvariants of Omircron now. We had BA1 and BA2, and now BA4 and BA5. With BA5, it's a subvariant of Omicron which is very different from Omicron in that it is more readily transmitted and it's more capable of evading the immune response that is generated in vaccines.
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"So that makes the vaccine against it less effective." According to Professor Mills, BA5 symptoms are similar to previous Covid-19 variants and subvariants. The most common symptoms of BA5 include fever, runny nose, coughing, sore throat, headache, muscle pain and fatigue.
Professor Mills also added that they are keeping a "close eye" on developments in the US surrounding the XBB.1.5 subvariant, which has not yet been detected here in Ireland. Professor Mills said that Covid-19 along with flu and respiratory syncytial virus are "further strain" on hospitals already dealing with overcrowding.
He said: "We're seeing a worrying increase in the number of people in hospital, it's an escalation on recent months. It's hard to say how many cases we will see after the Christmas from people socialising."
Professor Mills said that in the fight against Covid-19, vaccination is a key defence. He said: "Vaccination is key, absolutely. It's not going to stop you getting infected necessarily but it will certainly mitigate against severe disease and hospitalisation.
"The number of flu hospitalisations have shot up quite a bit in the last while, so that together with Covid is putting further strain on the healthcare system so it's not good," he added.
Professor Mills also said that people who come down with Covid twice are likely to become infected by "different variants" each time. He said: "People who get Covid more than once seem to get infected by different strains of the virus. For example the Delta variant is different to the Omicron variant and these variants will also have different symptoms."
When asked if he thinks mask restrictions might be reintroduced in Ireland, Professor Mills thinks that this is unlikely at the moment. However, he said that those who are vulnerable to Covid should wear masks when out and about.
"I think if people have Covid or other respiratory infections if they are going out they should wear a mask to prevent transmission to others. It's a sensible thing to do, and if people are vulnerable to Covid if they're in the older cohort or if they've got some underlying medical condition that increases their suspectibility to infection or disease associated with infection, then they should consider wearing a mask.
"I don't think it's a case of returning to general mask wearing," he added. Meanwhile, Chief Medical Officer Professor Breda Smyth also recently warned that this year’s ‘flu season has not yet peaked" but added "there is still time for people to avail of a protective vaccine which takes two weeks to become fully effective."
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