Vaccines will work against Omicron: Govt
December 03, 2021  15:57
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The Union Health Ministry on Friday said while there is no evidence to suggest that existing vaccines do not work on the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, some of the mutations reported may decrease the efficacy of the jabs.

 It however underscored that definitive evidence for new variant's increased remission and immune evasion is awaited.

The ministry has issued a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the Omicron variant of coronavirus which has been designated by WHO as a 'variant of concern' (VoC). 

Two cases of the new variant were reported in Karnataka on Thursday.

 From the list of FAQs, the ministry, answering to whether the existing vaccines work against the Omicron variant, said, "While, there is no evidence to suggest that existing vaccines do not work on Omicron, some of the mutations reported on spike gene may decrease the efficacy of existing vaccines." 

 However, vaccine protection is also by antibodies as well as by cellular immunity, which is expected to be relatively better preserved. Hence, vaccines are expected to still offer protection against severe disease and vaccination is crucial. If eligible one should get vaccinated, it said. 

 On the possibility of a third wave of Covid infection, the ministry said Omicron cases are increasingly being reported from countries outside of South Africa and given its characteristics, it is likely to spread to more countries, including India. 

 However, the scale and magnitude of the rise in cases and the severity of the disease are still not clear, it said. 

 "Further, given the fast pace of vaccination in India and high exposure to delta variant as evidenced by high seropositivity, the severity of the disease is anticipated to be low. However, scientific evidence is still evolving," the Health Ministry said.

To a question on can the currently used diagnostics methods detect Omicron, it said that the most accepted and commonly used method of diagnostic for SARS-CoV2 is the RT-PCR method. -- PTI
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