Vaccines do present safety and the main focus in our nation needs to be on vaccinating the remaining 22% inhabitants with double dosage, says Director Vinay Kumar Nandicoori
Council Of Scientific And Industrial Research–Centre For Cellular And Molecular Biology (CSIR-CCMB) is working on particular primers for improving the present Covid testing methods just like the RT-PCR the place the rising Omicran variant may be recognized. “We are working on a few sets of primers, but we have to test them extensively and validate them, before we can put them out so that a positive patient can know if it is the current dominant Delta variant or the new Omicron,” stated Director Dr. Vinay Kumar Nandicoori.
“As per the data available, Delta is still dominant across the country. Whether Omicron will replace it, we will see in the coming days. We should know that in South Africa where it was first detected, the Delta wave was waning when this new variant took over, which shows better infectivity and naturally the unvaccinated are prone to get infections than others,” he defined.
In an unique interplay, Dr. Nandicoori emphasised that vaccines do present safety and the main focus in our nation needs to be on vaccinating the remaining 22% inhabitants with double dosage. “There are going to be fatalities among the double vaccinated also but the numbers are much less when compared to those unvaccinated. I would urge people not to get alarmed and follow Covid protocols. Panic is not going to work but precautions would,” he asserted.
The high scientist stated, whereas the immune escape capability of Omicron is larger, its severity and pathogenicity seem to be decrease in contrast with the Delta, which additionally had immune escape options. “There is alarm because of the 32-37 mutations on the spike protein alone and some are already known to escape the immune response,” he stated.
Studies, up to now, have proven current antibodies due to prior an infection to vaccines provide decrease safety for Omicron compared to Delta, however it’s not as if the “immunity is non-existent”. “The response will vary from patient to patient depending on many parameters, however, we should know that in addition to B-mediated immunity, which produces the antibodies, we also have T-Cell immunity. Current knowledge suggests there is still some protective cover,” he defined.
While he doesn’t need to ‘speculate’ on how Omicron an infection may pan out, the Director factors to the United Kingdom instance the place the primary spherical of infections led to a number of deaths and when Delta ravaged, the fatalities weren’t that prime. “It shows vaccines do protect from severity and this is different from testing positive due to symptoms on getting infected. We should be looking into how many were hospitalised and deaths,” he identified.
India, having skilled the worst second ‘Delta’ wave, with vital vaccination standing among the many inhabitants and hybrid immunity contemplating 70-90% inhabitants are ‘sero-positive’ — contaminated or vaccinated or each contaminated and vaccinated, there’s some floor for hope. “But, it is an emerging thing and too soon to say anything even if the South African experience shows the hospitals and deaths are lower. We will have a lot more information in a few days’ time,” he stated.
Apart from rising testing, extra genome sequencing from circumstances among the many normal inhabitants will give an image if a wave is coming in, added Dr. Nandicoori.
