KP.3.1.1 Variant on the Rise and U.S. FDA Approves New COVID-19 Vaccines
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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that COVID-19 levels across the United States are currently “very high” in more than half of the states, with Omicron variant KP.3.1.1 accounting for about half of all cases; for the two-week period ending September 14, 2024 ( source ). A spokesperson for the CDC told The Epoch Times that the KP.3.1.1 “is very similar to other circulating variants in the United States, and all current lineages are descendants of JN.1, which emerged in late 2023.” Some media outlets have referred to both the KP.2 and KP.3 variants as “FLiRT,” (which stands for mutations in the virus's spike protein at positions designated "F for L" and "R for T"). “CDC predicts that KP.3 is growing and will become the most common SARS-CoV-2 lineage nationally,” a CDC spokesperson told several news outlets this week about the variant’s dominance. “CDC is working to better understand its potential impact on public health.” But the data ...