Omicron’s BQ.1.1 COVID-19 sub-variant. Why experts are watching it

BQ.1.1 is a descendant of the Omicron BA.5 sub-variant, which is the dominant COVID-19 mutation in Canada at the moment, the Public Health Agency of Canada says.

Since its emergence in 2020, COVID-19 has produced multiple mutations as it spread across the world.

Many of those variants did not become dominant, but few did including Alpha, Delta and Omicron. Those mutations caught the attention of global health researchers when they emerged, and now another is catching their eye: BQ.1.1.

The mutation is standing out among the more than 300 Omicron sub-variants the World Health Organization (WHO) is currently tracking. So what is it, and when did it emerge?

Here is what we know so far.

BQ.1.1 is a descendant of the Omicron BA.5 sub-variant, which is the dominant mutation in Canada at the moment, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) told Global News in a statement.

The new sub-variant has picked up a few mutations in its spike protein, which is the protein the virus uses to enter human cells, said Andy Pekosz, a professor of microbiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the United States.

COVID-19 vaccines are also based on that protein, he said.

“On paper, this looks like a virus that has probably, to date, the most ability to escape vaccine-induced immunity, as well as some antibody treatments,” Pekosz said.