STORY AT-A-GLANCE

The latest SARS-CoV-2 variant, JN.1, was first detected in the U.S. in September 2023. By mid-December, it accounted for about half of all COVID cases in the country

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rapid spread of JN.1 suggests it may be more transmissible and/or has greater immune-evading abilities

A vaccinology concept called “immune refocusing” explains how more dangerous viruses can be created by leaky vaccines that do not prevent infection

By continuing with boosters, we accelerate immune escape. Over time, variants will get better and better at evading our immune responses, and those who keep taking boosters will be the most vulnerable to infection of all

Because of the mutations seen in JN.1, vaccinologist Geert Vanden Bossche, Ph.D., predicts we will “very soon” see variants that are more virulent but less infectious. If this happens, healthy unjabbed individuals are unlikely to be affected because their first line of defense — their innate immune system — still works as it should. The jabbed, on the other hand, whose innate immune systems have not been trained, and whose adaptive immune systems have become increasingly useless, will be at very high risk of severe complications and death