Getting infected with COVID-19 during the first Omicron wave doesn't give much protection against the current BA.5 strain.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday that the BA.5 subvariant "substantially evades" antibodies from both vaccination and prior infection.
But BA.5 is not associated with greater disease severity or hospitalization compared to earlier Omicron sub-variants.
Those who were infected with COVID-19 during the first Omicron wave won't have much protection against the latest highly-infectious BA.5 subvariant, Dr. Anthony Fauci said during a Tuesday White House briefing.
"Omicron as a broad category has been particularly problematic," Fauci said at the briefing while discussing the new BA.5 variant, which he said currently accounts for 64% of cases in the U.S.