The new FLiRT subvariants, KP.2 and KP.1.1, are believed to be roughly 20% more transmissible than their parent, JN.1, the winter's dominant subvariant, said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious diseases expert at UC San Francisco.
With each of these variants that takes over from the one before it, we do see increased transmissibility - it's easier to spread from person to person. So, that's really the concern with FLiRT.
Despite their increased transmissibility, the new mutations don't appear to result in more severe disease. And the vaccine is expected to continue working well, given the new subvariants are only slightly different from the winter version.
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