33 New Cases of BA.5 and First Case of BA.4 in Taiwan BA.5增33例本土個案 亦出現首例BA.4

Taiwan reported 33 new domestic cases of the BA.5 variant yesterday, along with the first domestic case of the BA.4 variant. The Central Epidemic Command Center expects infections to spike later this month.

Taiwan reported 33 new domestic cases of BA.5 and the first domestic case of BA.4 on the 15th, with BA.5 cases accounting for 20 percent of new cases. The Central Epidemic Command Center expects the daily case count to soar as high as 60,000 in two weeks. Doctors, meanwhile, are worried about cluster infections with the school year starting in September.

Lee Chien-chang, Emergency Medicine Doctor, NTU Hospital: “Children younger than five couldn't get vaccinated until recently, so when they start school they will be more susceptible to infection. Second, most secondary school students have not gotten a booster shot yet.”

On the 15th, the U.K. became the first country in the world to approve Moderna's bivalent COVID-19 vaccine. In clinical trials, the bivalent vaccine produced a strong immune response against both the original strain of COVID-19 and the Omicron BA.1 variant.

Huang Li-min, Honorary Chair, Infectious Diseases Society of Taiwan: “You're introducing two types of RNA into the system at once, so you will also produce an immune response to BA.1. This response is close to Omicron, because it is Omicron. So, it is slightly closer to the BA.5 variant (going around) now.”

Taiwan's three-dose coverage rate is currently over 70 percent and over 30 percent of Taiwan's population has had COVID-19. As the majority of Omicron infections are mild cases, doctors say the case count soaring later this month shouldn't have a major impact on medical capacity but everyone should still get fully vaccinated as soon as possible.

新冠本土Omicron變異株BA.4、BA.5開始在社區傳播。昨日一口氣新增33例BA.5本土病例，全國占比達1成5，另外還出現首例BA.4個案，疑似為一起家庭群聚，疫情指揮中心預估，兩週後疫情升溫，單日確診最高可達6萬例，有醫師表示，9月開學恐怕推升群聚風險，尤其幼兒和青少年是高危險族群。

台大醫院急診醫學部醫師李建璋表示：「小於5歲的那些人，其實也才剛打第1劑過後沒多久而已，所以他們如果去幼稚園的話，的確是更容易去傳染的，第二個以這個中學生來講的話，一般也都還沒有打到第3劑。」

此外，英國15日宣布，給予美國藥廠莫德納的次世代疫苗使用許可，成為全球首例批准使用「雙價疫苗」的國家，因為臨床研究顯示，這款新疫苗對抗武漢原始株及Omicron BA.1，都能引發強烈免疫反應。

台灣感染症醫學會名譽理事長黃立民指出：「你一次有打兩種RNA進去身體裡面，所以你也會對BA.1產生免疫反應，BA.1的免疫反應比較接近Omicron，因為它本身就是Omicron，所以它跟現在的BA.5還是比較接近一點點。」

醫師強調，國人第3劑疫苗涵蓋率超過7成，再加上國人感染率，群體免疫有3至4成，且Omicron病毒感染大多為輕症，不至於對醫療量能造成衝擊；不過還是呼籲符合接種資格的民眾，儘快去打疫苗，並落實自我防疫措施，以降低感染風險。