In addition to vaccines, WHO recommends masking and improved ventilation in high-risk environments – to prevent all Covid-19 infections and related risks, such as long Covid. For the moment, public health officials, the general public and doctors do not need to change their behavior in response to this variant, Veldhoen said. Vaccine researchers, on the other hand, should be continuing to track the variant in order to determine how to best update the vaccine, Veldhoen added. In the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (Gisaid) database, which includes all reported sequencing data available on Covid-19, BA.3.2 is “overrepresented in pediatric samples relative to adults in several countries, and that pattern appears real”. “More importantly, there is no current signal that BA.3.2 is causing more severe disease in children,” Scott said, adding that until there was, the pattern was worth noting but not catastrophizing.

Source: The Guardian April 04, 2026 17:24 UTC