Pfizer Inc said on Thursday its updated COVID-19 shot, which is being tested against emerging variants, showed neutralizing activity against the "Eris" subvariant in a study conducted on mice.
Pfizer, along with its German partner BioNTech SE, as well as other COVID-19 vaccine makers Moderna and Novavax have created versions of their shots, which are aimed at the XBB.1.5 subvariant.
![Covid Vaccine Covid Vaccine](https://data.ibtimes.sg/en/full/64075/covid-vaccine.jpg?w=736)
EG.5, nicknamed by some as "Eris", is similar to the XBB.1.5 subvariant and a sub-lineage of the still-dominant Omicron variant.
EG.5 accounted for about more than 17% of COVID-19 cases in the United States, according to the latest government data.
In the United States, COVID-19 related hospitalizations are up more than 40% off of recent lows hit in June, but are still more than 90% below peak levels hit during the January 2022 Omicron outbreak.
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EG.5 has also been detected in China, South Korea, Japan and Canada, among other countries.
The World Health Organization classified EG.5 as a "variant of interest", indicating that it should be more closely watched than others because of mutations that might make it more contagious or severe.