As a new COVID-19 variant takes over in the U.S., guidance surrounding vaccines has become increasingly confusing.
Changes in vaccination guidelines, ever-evolving variants and strains, along with threats to health insurance, have sent average Americans looking for the latest recommendations as members of the federal government often conflict with independent medical agencies and healthcare professionals.
In the two weeks leading up to June 21, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported just shy of 14,500 positive COVID tests, and while hospitalizations and deaths are fortunately down significantly since the pandemic's peak, vulnerable people are still grappling with limiting their risk amid changing practices.
NB.1.8.1 is one of the latest variants of COVID-19, a "slightly upgraded version" of the LP.8.1 variant that is prominent right now, Subhash Verma, microbiology and immunology professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, previously told USA TODAY in May.
Verma previously stated that NB.1.8.1 may be transferred more easily than LP.8.1. Additionally, he noted that NB.1.8.1 can evade antibodies created by vaccines or past infections more easily than LP.8.1.