If you were infected with COVID-19 during the first Omicron wave, you 'really don't have a lot of good protection' against the BA.5 subvariant: Fauci

The latest highly-infectious BA.5 subvariant won't have much protection against those who were exposed to COVID-19 during the first Omicron wave.

"Omicron as a broad category has been problematic," Fauci said at the briefing while discussing the new BA.5 variant, which he said currently accounts for 64% of cases in the US.

Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and one of America's top infectious disease experts, said that each successive variant has a transmission advantage over the previous one.

Fauci said those who were in the first wave don't have a lot of protection against the latest subvariant.

Even with BA.1 or BA.2, people are still at risk for BA.4 or BA.5.

He said the new variant evades both vaccinations and previous infections.

Health experts said that vaccinations and booster shots have been shown to reduce the risk of end up in the intensive care unit. Compared to earlier Omicron sub-variants, BA.5 is not associated with higher disease severity.

As long as the virus continues to spread, BA.5 and future versions will appear.

If the virus circulates around the world and in this county, there will beVariants. We should not allow it to disrupt our lives, but we have to deal with it.