{"id":150088,"date":"2021-12-01T21:01:38","date_gmt":"2021-12-01T15:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=150088"},"modified":"2021-12-02T16:42:40","modified_gmt":"2021-12-02T11:12:40","slug":"omicrons-lesson-were-not-covid-safe-until-everyone-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/omicrons-lesson-were-not-covid-safe-until-everyone-is\/","title":{"rendered":"Omicron\u2019s lesson: We\u2019re not covid-safe until everyone is"},"content":{"rendered":"

News: <\/strong>The emergence of Omicron has evoked fresh demands for booster shots.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rich countries continue to stockpile and administer booster shots, while people in many low and low-middle income countries wait for their first jab.<\/p>\n

However, the emergence of new variants from low-vaccination-coverage regions essentially means that covid could be a never-ending battle.<\/p>\n

The only way this pandemic can and should be fought is with global solidarity and vaccine equity. The idea of booster shots seems to be irrational.<\/p>\n

Why the idea of booster shots is irrational?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Vaccine inequity<\/strong>: Omicron has emerged from Africa, a continent that has just 7% of its total population fully vaccinated. It is this vaccine inequity that weakens our global fight against the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Therefore, a decision to introduce booster shots would further divert supplies from the neediest and widen vaccine inequity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What steps should India take?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Focus on full-vaccination coverage: <\/strong>Though India has more vaccine supply than demand, India should not start providing booster shots. Rather, India should try to achieve full-vaccination coverage of those at the highest i.e. those aged 60-plus and 45-59 with co-morbidities.<\/p>\n

Epidemiological and vaccine effectiveness studies should be commissioned<\/strong>: This will help to generate evidence that could guide decisions.<\/p>\n

For instance, there are evidences that a booster dose of a vaccine on a different platform could be a better approach. The UK, which used the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for its primary schedule, has chosen mRNA vaccines for booster shots.<\/p>\n

These mRNA vaccines are not yet available in India. So, India should revive negotiations with mRNA-jab makers, to keep such vaccines as an option in case of a health emergency.<\/p>\n

Investment in vaccine research and development <\/strong>(R&D):<\/strong> The periodic emergence of new variants is a signal that future vaccines should be developed that are able to tackle multiple strains. In this context, adequate investment in vaccine R&D and domestic & international collaborations can help India tackle the new variants better in the future.<\/p>\n

What is the way forward?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Increasing the vaccine accessibility and affordability is the key to control the emergence of new variants. It can be done by<\/p>\n

First,<\/em> <\/strong>granting voluntary licensing and transfer of technology. This can increase dose production at a larger scale.<\/p>\n

In this context, India and South Africa\u2019s proposal at the WTO for a temporary waiver of intellectual-property protection for covid vaccines needs to be favourably considered.<\/p>\n

Second, <\/strong><\/em>COVAX-abundant nations should share a fixed portion of their stock with a global pool.<\/p>\n

Source:<\/strong> This post is based on the article \u201cOmicron\u2019s lesson: We\u2019re not covid-safe until everyone is<\/strong>\u201d published in The Hindu<\/strong> on 1st<\/sup> Dec<\/strong> 2021<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News: The emergence of Omicron has evoked fresh demands for booster shots. Rich countries continue to stockpile and administer booster shots, while people in many low and low-middle income countries wait for their first jab. However, the emergence of new variants from low-vaccination-coverage regions essentially means that covid could be a never-ending battle. The only… Continue reading Omicron\u2019s lesson: We\u2019re not covid-safe until everyone is<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10316,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[3005,212,8698,10498,1648],"class_list":["post-150088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-covid-19-2","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-issues-related-with-health","tag-the-hindu","tag-vaccines","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":1700784260,"cached_date":1704875242},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150088\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}