PEORIA, Ill. — As a new variant of COVID-19 is showing its dominance, there’s good news about how we’re fighting the disease three years since it appeared.
Dr. Doug Kasper, with the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Peoria, says COVID antibodies aren’t as effective now as they once were, and what’s really helping to save lives are T-cell mechanisms.
“These have been shown to be much more durable, it’s going to be longer lasting, and when you see these changes in strains that are occurring, we don’t get the serious spikes across the country with people going to the hospital and dying. What’s happening is it’s generated immunity to protect the masses,” Kasper says.
Lab-based tracking of the XBB.1.5 variant, Kasper tells WMBD’s “The Greg and Dan Show’, is showing some strains may have the ability to replicate more easily and become dominant.
But, doctors aren’t seeing any big jump cases or hospitalizations at the ground level at this time, Kasper says.
