Although Vice President Kamala Harris was infected with the coronavirus in April, it is not impossible that she could be infected again – a perspective that arose from being with President Biden just two days before he tested positive. According to her schedule for the day, Ms. Harris received the president’s daily briefing in the Oval Office. He also met with Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, with Mr. Biden and others at the White House. The prospect of both Ms. Harris, 57, and Mr. Biden, 79, contracting the virus may be alarming, but both are fully vaccinated and have received two booster shots, which remain highly protective against serious illness. Ms. Harris received her second souvenir on April 1 and Mr. Biden on March 30. Ms Harris, who traveled to North Carolina on Thursday, said she had spoken to Mr Biden by phone and that he was “in good spirits”. According to a White House official, Ms. Harris tested negative Thursday morning. On the advice of the White House medical team, she will remain masked, but her program will continue as planned. It may not be clear. To account for the incubation period of the virus, many experts recommend taking a rapid test two to four days after a possible exposure and having at least two rapid tests about a day apart. Ms Harris had previously tested positive for the coronavirus on April 26. Announcing her positive test, the office said she was asymptomatic and would self-isolate at home. At the time, Ms. Harris was already fully vaccinated and had received two booster shots. She was prescribed the antiviral treatment Paxlovid. At the time of her infection, the vice president had not been in close contact with Mr. Biden. He had spent several days in California and had not seen the president in person for eight days. A month before that, Doug Emhoff, Ms. Harris’ husband, tested positive for the virus. Ms. Harris was not infected at the time, but while she isolated herself and continued to test negative, Mr. Emhoff’s positive test forced her to cancel an appearance at an event with Biden. It is possible that the vice president will be infected with the virus again. Antibodies that help protect against infection decline over time, and Omicron is more adept at avoiding these antibodies than previous variants. Even a previous Omicron infection may not protect against a subsequent one. Although it is unclear which version of the virus Ms. Harris had in April, at the time, Omicron’s BA.2 subvariant was the dominant version in the United States. Now, the BA.5 subvariant, which has spread even faster than previous versions, is causing a new explosion of cases, including a series of reinfections. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated last week that BA.5 accounted for nearly 80 percent of new infections in the U.S. “You may have been infected previously — even as recently as the last two months — and have a very high rate of reinfection,” Dr. Ashish K. Jha, Mr. Biden’s coronavirus response coordinator, said in an interview last week. A recent study from Qatar, which has not yet been reviewed by outside experts, suggests that BA.4 and BA.5 are better at avoiding antibodies from previous coronavirus infections than earlier versions of Omicron. However, people infected with an earlier version of Omicron should be better protected than those infected with other variants of the virus. According to the Qatar study, an infection with a pre-Omicron variant was 28 percent effective in preventing a subsequent infection with BA.4 or BA.5. A previous Omicron infection, however, was 80 percent effective in preventing BA.4 or BA.5 infection. — Carly Olson and Emily Anthes
