Health Care — Highly transmissible subvariant now dominant in US 

An 8-year-old boy is helping a NASCAR driver put a new spin on the “Let’s Go Brandon” chants. 

In health news, an omicron subvariant is now the most dominant strain in the U.S., though there are large gaps in data reporting.  

Welcome to Overnight Health Care, where we’re following the latest moves on policy and news affecting your health. For The Hill, we’re Peter Sullivan, Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

New subvariant now a majority of US COVID cases 

A new omicron subvariant known as BA.5 now comprises a majority of U.S. COVID-19 cases, according to data released Tuesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

The data is a sign of the rise of the highly transmissible subvariant, which has prompted concern about a new increase in cases.   

BA.5, along with a related subvariant known as BA.4, has mutations that have shown an increased ability to evade the protection from vaccines and previous infection. 

• BA.5 now makes up 53.6 percent of U.S. cases, according to the CDC.
• BA.4 makes up another 16.5 percent, putting the two together at around 70 percent of infections.   

New vaccines coming: The Food and Drug Administration last week advised vaccine makers to target the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants in updated vaccines they are preparing for this fall.  

But waiting is risky: Celine Gounder, an infectious disease expert at New York University, stressed that people should not wait for the updated vaccines to be available to get a booster shot.   

“The updated vaccines won’t be available until October at the earliest,” she wrote. “That’s 4+ months away. That’s a big window of risk.”  

Only about half of adults who received the initial two shots have received their booster, according to the CDC, leaving them more vulnerable to the new subvariants. 

Read more here.  

Why Kansas will be a bellwether in abortion fight

In the wake of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, President Biden pointed to the November elections, saying, “This fall, Roe is on the ballot.”  

But in Kansas, abortion rights are on the ballot even sooner.   

Mark your calendars: Kansans will vote on a state constitutional amendment on abortion on Aug. 2, setting the state up as a key bellwether for how abortion rights resonate as a voting issue ahead of the midterm elections.   

The amendment would overturn a 2019 state Supreme Court ruling finding that the Kansas constitution protects abortion rights, and then leave it up to the GOP-controlled legislature to decide how far to go in adding restrictions or bans on abortion.   

The significance: The result in Kansas, the first statewide vote on abortion rights after the Supreme Court ruling, could help shed light on how successful Democrats can be nationally in using abortion to try to energize supporters for the November elections, despite stiff political headwinds given rising inflation, Biden’s lagging approval ratings and the history of a president’s party losing seats in a…