The surge of the Omicron wave in South Africa, the UK, Denmark and the Netherlands paints a worrying picture and calls for preparation and appropriate restrictions in India, says virologist Gagandeep Kang.

“There is no reason to believe its biology would change in the Indian population because it is capable of re-infections,” Kang told BusinessLine , concerned over the typical spread of the highly-transmissible Omicron variant in other countries, where it surged after reaching a tipping point. Such a scenario can be avoided, she said, with education on mask-wearing, better ventilation and restrictions, though not a lockdown. She also suggested a calibrated approach to boosters and additional vaccine doses for the vulnerable population.

On reports indicating that Omicron was not very severe, Kang said, “We can pin our hopes on the fact that there’s lots of infection, but it’s not severe.” However, if even a fraction of that spectrum shifts to having a mild infection, that could be a huge number in a country like India, cautioned Kang, professor with The Wellcome Trust Research Laboratory, Christian Medical College (Vellore) .

The last few days have, in fact, seen the UK government upping its level of alertness and bringing forward its plan of booster doses to tackle the “Omicron emergency”.

As experts in India discuss boosters and third doses, Kang recommended, the attention be on giving people both doses of the vaccine, followed by boosters for the elderly and those with co-morbidities and those immunocompromised.

There was no need to vaccinate healthy children now, she said. Presently, the only vaccines available to them were Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Zydus Cadila’s needle-free jab. Covaxin could be given in emergencies to children with comorbidities, she said, concurring with the Centre’s decision on the Zydus vaccine being given first to adults and in limited areas. On Covishield, the AstraZeneca-OxfordUniversity vaccine, produced by Serum Institute of India, she pointed out that it has not been tested on children anywhere, although the bulk of the adult population in India had been given this vaccine.

With the international data that is available, Kang said that mRNA vaccines make for a good booster shot. But since India does not have these vaccines yet, the next best choice was a protein vaccine, followed by the third choice of going with any vaccine available. Vaccines are doing their job of preventing a severe disease, she said, adding that a CMC Vellore study on mixed booster doses was expected to come out with results by late January.

Omicron cases

Omicron cases in India increased to 83 on Thursday, with five new cases in Karnataka, 2 in Delhi and 1 in Gujarat, according to Health Ministry sources.

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