How Protected Am I Against the Covid Variant JN.1?

Currently, the COVID-19 variant JN.1 is responsible for 93% of infections in the United States. This is unusual, as one variant doesn’t usually comprise nearly all cases. It’s previously been found that infection with COVID-19 or vaccination against the virus confers two to six months of protection, but with the unusually high amount mutations differentiating JN.1 from previous variants, this capacity for protection is being questioned. Those recently infected with a different variant may be at risk for re-infection with JN.1, including those infected over the summer, when the dominant variants were different. However, some variants are closely related enough to confer partial protection against re-infection; specifically, the booster shots administered in Fall 2023 may still have some effectiveness against JN.1, despite being engineered towards the variant XBB.1.5. While not always successful at preventing infection, the booster shots have been found to reduce the risk of severe disease and hospitalization, making them highly important to receive.

To read the full article by Dani Blum of The New York Times, click here. 

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