COVID XEC variant, reportedly more contagious, starting to spread

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FILE - COVID-19 new mutation variant, 3D rendered image. Getty Images

Health experts and scientists around the world are sharing thoughts on what they believe will be the next dominant COVID variant - XEC.

Experts say it’s in the same family as the Omicron variant, but appears to be getting more contagious as it spreads this summer.

Here’s what the experts are saying:

XEC COVID variant

XEC is the proposed name of a hybrid variant of the Omicron lineages KS.1.1 and KP.3.3, a spokesperson with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told FOX Television Stations.

The spokesperson said the CDC is monitoring the emergence of variants in the U.S. population, but since specific cases aren't associated with specific variants, it did not have data on how many cases of the XEC strain have been recorded so far in the U.S.

Last month, Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in California, told The Los Angeles Times that XEC was just getting started now around the world and in the U.S. "That’s going to take many weeks, a couple months, before it really takes hold and starts to cause a wave," he said.

Topol has also been active on X, formerly known as Twitter, in offering his thoughts on the XEC variant.

He tweeted on Sept. 14 to say that the XEC variant appears to be the one most likely to get "legs" next, and referenced data shared on X by Mike Honey, a COVID data analyst in Australia.

XEC first appeared in Berlin earlier this summer, according to Honey, and has been spreading across Europe and gradually into other countries since then.

The data Honey shared on X showed the strongest growth in Denmark and Germany, followed by the UK and Netherlands.

Dr. Marc Siegel, senior medical analyst for FOX News and clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, shared that he, too, expects XEC will soon be in the U.S.

"It seems to be more contagious — it causes congestion, cough, loss of smell and appetite, sore throat and body aches," he told Fox News Digital.

"The new vaccine should provide at least some coverage," he added.

New COVID vaccine

Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved updated COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer for the 2024-2025 season.

Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, regional chief of infectious diseases for Kaiser Permanente Southern California, also told The Los Angeles Times that she thought the new vaccines would still provide some good protection against XEC "because there is some overlap, because these are all sub, sub, sub-grandchildren of the original Omicron. So there is still going to be some level of protection there."

Amid a summer wave of the virus across the country, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended this fall's shot for everyone aged 6 months and older.

"Getting the 2024–2025 COVID-19 vaccine is important because protection from the COVID-19 vaccine decreases with time," a CDC spokesperson said, and because "COVID-19 vaccines are updated to give you the best protection from the currently circulating strains."