COVID: Omicron concerns rise in India as virus rages in other parts of the world
The HinduAS the COVID-19 pandemic surges again with a new virus variant, Omicron in most of Western Europe and the United States of America, concerns have arisen in India regarding preparedness, the need for booster vaccination doses, immune response of the vaccinated, vulnerability of the non-vaccinated as well as immunisation against the virus for children. I also think that the data are beginning to suggest that, while vaccinated people can indeed be infected with the Omicron strain, their likelihood of getting serious illness even so seems to be quite low.” Genome sequencing In the U.S., more than 70 per cent of COVID cases were caused by Omicron. Having said that, considering our understanding of immune protection against SARS CoV2 and that Omicron is still evolving, therefore, it is important that every country, India included, develop a detailed booster dose strategy, outlining the priority groups, interval need between primary schedule and the booster and the selection of right vaccines for boosting on the basis of scientific evidence and epidemiological data, among others. In a possible scenario of rise in Omicron cases, the Indian States need to keep schools open, unless there is strong reason and scientific evidence to close schools.” Collation of data One standard complaint among public health experts has been that although there was a lot of data in sheer quantifiable terms, not much was known in terms of breakthrough infections, antibody levels or even genome sequencing in the public domain.