COPENHAGEN, Reuters – A Danish study found that the Omicron subvariant BA.2 is less transmissible and can infect more people vaccinated.

This study analysed the coronavirus infection rates in over 8,500 Danish homes between December and January. It found that those with the BA.2 subvariant were 33% more likely than people with BA.1.

Globally, Omicron patients are represented by the BA.1 subvariant. But, in Denmark, BA.2 is quickly becoming the predominant strain. It dethroned BA.1 the second week.

The study’s authors concluded that Omicron BA.2 was inherently more transmissible that BA.1, that it has immune-evasive qualities that reduce the protection against infection, and they also found that Omicron BA.2 had a lower transmission rate than BA.1.

Researchers at Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen University, Statistics Denmark, and Technical University of Denmark conducted the study. It hasn’t been peer-reviewed.

Omicron BA.2 can infect you within seven days of exposure. Frederik Plesner (lead author of study) said that if BA.1 was used instead, the likelihood is 29%

This suggests that BA.2 has 33% greater infectious potential than BA.1, he said.

BA.2 cases were also registered in Britain and Sweden. However, it was much smaller than Denmark which has 82%.

Also, the study showed that BA.2 did a better job infecting booster-vaccinated individuals than BA.1. It indicates that subvariants have greater immune evasive capabilities.

However, vaccines play an important role. The study showed that both people who were fully or booster-vaccinated had a lower likelihood of getting infected with subvariants and transmitting them to others than those who weren’t.

SSI’s preliminary analysis has found that the risks of being hospitalized for BA.2 is identical to those for BA.1.

This study confirmed preliminary analyses from England that showed BA.2 had a significantly higher growth rate than BA.1, according to Britain’s Health Security Agency.