Uncategorized

NEW DELHI: According to eminent virologist Dr T Jacob John, the easiest barrier that must be created immediately against Omicron is booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines. While the new variant may not seed the third wave of the pandemic, breakthrough infections may be common as a result of the new variant.

A breakthrough infection occurs when a person contracts an illness despite having been immunised against it.
In South Africa, a novel variety of COVID-19 with a high number of spike mutations has been discovered.

On November 26, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated B.1.1.529, first detected in southern Africa, as a variant of concern, on the advice of its Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) and named it Omicron.

Speaking to PTI on Omicron, John, an eminent virologist and the former director of the ICMR’s Centre of Advanced Research in Virology, on Tuesday said the dictum here should be “expect the best but be prepared for the worst”.

“While only some 30 per cent of the population is vaccinated with two doses, the cup is one-third full,” he added.

John said India’s population is well-immunised by the massive first wave (which lasted eight months, infecting probably some 30 per cent of the population) of the Covid pandemic and the deadlier second wave (which in 12 weeks infected probably some 75-80 per cent of the remainder, plus many reinfections within these numbers)

“Against this background, what may happen if the variant enters and spreads far and wide is unpredictable. It may not be as bad as people fear. It may not seed a third wave. Yet, the wise course is to avoid importation and bolster our ‘population immunity’ (popularly called herd immunity). That means two things — vaccinate the unvaccinated and offer booster doses to all two-dose vaccinated,” he said.

Booster doses are the easiest barrier that “we can and must create” immediately against the variant, he added.

“Also, second doses to first-dose recipients and first doses to all others, including children, must be given. Pregnant women — two doses in first pregnancy, starting as early as possible, and one booster dose in the next pregnancy,” John said.

Talking about the effectiveness of vaccines against the new variant, he said breakthrough infections may be common.

“Looks like breakthrough infections will be common. However, the basic virus is the same and high levels of immunity that can be achieved with booster doses can be expected to be highly protective both against the disease and even transmissibility,” he said.

Talking about mutations in Omicron, John said 34 mutations are observed, which is more than Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta and all other variants of concern.

On the transmissibility of the new variant, he said, “If the original virus transmission level is taken as a baseline, level 1, then Delta was about two to three times higher and Omicron even higher, one scientist in Switzerland thinks 10 times higher.”

On a comparison of Delta with Omicron, he said the latter is a “more efficient transmitter, more resistant to immunity due to two doses of vaccines, most probably no more virulent or causing more severe disease than Delta”.

TIGHTENING To guarantee early identification of novel varieties, including Omicron, the Union Health Ministry has urged states to transmit “100% samples” from Covid hotspots, beginning with two recent clusters in Karnataka’s Dharwad and Maharashtra’s Thane, The Indian Express has learned.

During a high-level review conference on Tuesday headed by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, states were directed to deliver “all positive samples” for genome sequencing to authorised INSACOG labs “as soon as possible.” Previously, only around 5% of positive cases revealed by RT-PCR assays were forwarded for genome sequencing.

To begin with, top Government sources told The Indian Express, the Centre has told authorities to send all samples from the cluster of cases reported from a medical college in Dharwad and an old-age home at Bhiwandi in Thane.

“We have told the states that whenever you have emerging hotspots and clusters of new cases, you should get 100 per cent of the genome sequenced. It is being done in Dharwad, where they had more than 240 cases in one institution, and in Bhiwandi, where 60 cases were detected in an old age home. We have told the states that wherever you have such a number, there should be mandatory genome sequencing,” sources said.

On Tuesday, the Centre told states to ensure “physical visits” to the homes of passengers from “at-risk” countries to monitor home isolation. “The status of those who are negative after the retest on the eighth day” will also be “physically monitored by the state administration”, it said. The states have been told that international passengers from “at-risk” countries should be advised to wait at airports till the report comes and “not book connecting flights”.

During the meeting, ICMR D-G Dr Balram Bhargava said Omicron does not escape RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen tests. The Centre conveyed that the flagship “Har Ghar Dastak” campaign has been extended till December 31.

According to BioNTech SE Chief Executive Officer Ugur Sahin, the present generation of Covid-19 vaccinations will likely continue to protect against severe illness in patients infected with the omicron form.

In an interview with Dow Jones, Sahin said that the new, highly altered version might cause more vaccinated individuals to get ill. Even if the variation is able to evade antibodies in vaccinated persons, he believes it will still be targeted by immune cells.

“Don’t freak out,” Sahin said. “The plan remains the same: Speed up the administration of a third booster shot.”

The comments from the chief of BioNTech, Pfizer Inc.’s partner on the Covid vaccine, add to a growing range of views from vaccine developers on the efficacy of their shots against the new variant. Amid a shortage of hard data, some of their positions have seemed contradictory at times, fueling uncertainty among investors about how to react to omicron’s emergence.

Moderna Inc. executives said earlier that omicron’s many mutations suggest new vaccines will be needed, triggering a drop in financial markets. The University of Oxford, which developed a vaccine with AstraZeneca Plc, said there’s no evidence existing shots won’t provide some protection against the new strain.

Lab Tests

Ultimately, the proof will come in the results of lab tests within weeks — and in the performance of the shots against the variant in real-world populations.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is also projecting cautious optimism on the vaccines. Biden said Monday that his medical team believes that current vaccines “will continue to provide a degree of protection against severe disease,” but that more data will come in a few weeks. Updated, omicron-specific vaccines are “hopefully unlikely” and the U.S. does “not yet believe that additional measures will be needed.”

The European Union’s drugs regulator said earlier Tuesday that it would use expedited procedures to approve new versions of the Covid-19 vaccines to address omicron should the current ones prove insufficient to fight it off.

BioNTech also moved to speed up the availability of shots for younger school-aged children in the European Union. The company informed European Commission officials on Tuesday that vaccines for children ages 5 to 11 would ship the week of Dec. 13, a week earlier than had been planned, according to documents seen by Bloomberg News.