--- title: The Updated COVID-19 Shot Works on the Newest Variants description: A new study shows that the XBB vaccine can protect against several emerging variants. canonical: https://time.com/6342385/new-covid-vaccine-variants-xbb/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-12-07T14:57:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:50:42.562Z article:section: Health og:title: The Updated COVID-19 Shot Works on the Newest Variants og:description: A new study shows that the XBB vaccine can protect against several emerging variants. og:url: https://time.com/6342385/new-covid-vaccine-variants-xbb/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d3fccea33b00a34/698a42ebdb29872e9e2699d1/GettyImages-1674135313.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: New Corona vaccine og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Updated COVID-19 Shot Works on the Newest Variants twitter:description: A new study shows that the XBB vaccine can protect against several emerging variants. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d3fccea33b00a34/698a42ebdb29872e9e2699d1/GettyImages-1674135313.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Updated COVID-19 Shot Works on the Newest Variants ## Video: Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson Apologizes In Front of COVID-19 Inquiry Panel [Watch (HLS stream): Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson Apologizes In Front of COVID-19 Inquiry Panel](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/TWdGwYtD.m3u8) (4:43)  _Published 2023-12-06. The U.K’s COVID-19 Inquiry into the government’s response to the pandemic picked up again on Wednesday morning. The hearings for the initial stage of the investigation were heard in London in June. Today, former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who served as the nation’s leader from 2019 to 2022, was sworn in to give evidence in front of the panel. Shortly into his opening statement, he said that he was sorry for the suffering experienced by COVID victims and their families._  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Dec 7, 2023 2:57 PM UTC  A vial of the COVID-19 vaccine targeting XBB.1.5, made by Pfizer and BioNTech A vial of the COVID-19 vaccine targeting XBB.1.5, made by Pfizer and BioNTechChristophe Gateau/picture alliance—Getty Images  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Dec 7, 2023 2:57 PM UTC Every COVID-19 vaccine is a step behind the virus. In the time it takes companies to make the shot, SARS-CoV-2 is already busy mutating into different versions that can evade the immune response produced by it. But even though the [latest vaccine](https://time.com/6313497/new-covid-19-vaccine-booster/) targets XBB.1.5, a variant no longer dominant in the U.S., it seems to be doing a decent job at warding off some of the emerging variants. In a [study](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.11.26.568730v1) published on the preprint server bioRxiv, scientists led by Dr. David Ho, director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center at Columbia University, report that the vaccine can generate strong antibodies that can neutralize not just XBB but variants such as HV.1, which now accounts for [31% of U.S. infections](https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions), and HK.3, which contributes to [half of new infections](https://gisaid.org/) in Asia (and about 7% in the U.S.). The team analyzed blood samples from 60 people with different COVID-19 infection and vaccination histories, representing real-world scenarios. All had four to five doses of mRNA vaccines—most recently, the bivalent BA.4/5 vaccine that was recommended before the new XBB.1.5 shot. One group had never had COVID-19 and received the XBB.1.5 booster. Another group recently recovered from an XBB infection and did not receive the XBB booster. The final group had previously been infected with an Omicron variant and did not receive the XBB.1.5 booster. Blood samples from these volunteers were pitted against lab-based versions of SARS-CoV-2 virus variants: the original, BA.5, XBB.1.5, and EG.5.1 (a variant that spread widely this fall). The samples were also tested against four emerging subvariants: HV.1, HK.3, JD.1.1, and JN.1. ### More From TIME The results suggest that the new XBB.1.5 vaccine helps generate antibodies against variants that the vaccine wasn’t specifically designed to target—namely HV.1, HK.3, JD.1.1, and JN.1\. These antibody levels were 13 to 27 times higher in the blood of people who had never had COVID-19 but had an XBB.1.5 vaccine. They increased 10-fold among people with this new shot who had a prior Omicron infection. These responses were slightly lower than antibody levels generated against XBB.1.5,but still suggest that the latest vaccine can provide broader protection against a variety of variants. That’s encouraging news as the battle between vaccines and the virus continues this season, and new variants that first appeared in other parts of the world make their way to the U.S. These new data support the need for people stay up to date on their vaccines so they can continue to be protected against new versions of the virus. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6342385/new-covid-vaccine-variants-xbb/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6342385/new-covid-vaccine-variants-xbb/"},"headline":"The Updated COVID-19 Shot Works on the Newest Variants","datePublished":"2023-12-07T14:57:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:50:42.562Z","description":"A new study shows that the XBB vaccine can protect against several emerging variants.","url":"https://time.com/6342385/new-covid-vaccine-variants-xbb/","keywords":["COVID-19","healthscienceclimate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d3fccea33b00a34/698a42ebdb29872e9e2699d1/GettyImages-1674135313.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d3fccea33b00a34/698a42ebdb29872e9e2699d1/GettyImages-1674135313.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"New Corona vaccine","caption":"New Corona vaccine","creditText":"Christophe Gateau/picture alliance—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/covid-19/","name":"COVID-19"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6342385/new-covid-vaccine-variants-xbb/","name":"The Updated COVID-19 Shot Works on the Newest Variants"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson Apologizes In Front of COVID-19 Inquiry Panel","description":"The U.K’s COVID-19 Inquiry into the government’s response to the pandemic picked up again on Wednesday morning. 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