On Tuesday, experts revealed results from the first laboratory tests to see how a Covid-19 vaccine holds up to Omicron when a team of researchers led by Africa Health Research Institute’s Alex Sigal tested 14 blood samples from 12 people against a live sample of the Omicron variant. All 12 people were vaccinated, and six were previously infected.
Experts in India, however, believe India is likely to have much more hybrid immunity than other nations against the heavily mutated Omicron and hence are better protected. “Too early to say but it confirms that hybrid immunity will be better protected,” said Anurag Agrawal, chair, WHO’s technical advisory group on SARS-CoV-2 virus evolution.
In an earlier interview to ET, Agrawal had said that with over 2/3rd of the population previously infected, mostly after the huge second wave, and a large vaccination drive afterwards, India is likely to have much more hybrid immunity than other nations.
However, health experts are adopting a cautious approach about the effects of Omincron variant in India.
“We need data with our peoples’ sera,” Agrawal added. In India the National Institute of Virology (NIV) is conducting a study to understand the effectiveness of the available vaccines against Omicron. The NIV will isolate the strain from the samples it has received to assess vaccine efficacy against the lab-grown strain.
The first laboratory results research study showed that blood from people who had received two doses of the vaccine and had a prior infection was mostly able to neutralize the variant. “[It] suggests the importance of the third dose to fend off infection,” AK Singh, senior consultant endocrinologist at GD Hospital and Diabetes Institute, Kolkata, said.
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