Hyderabad: India must reconsider its booster dose strategy in light of the multiple variants of novel coronavirus at play and private labs should be encouraged to perform genome sequencing to better identify variants and threat levels, said a top virologist.
“The current strategy of testing for symptoms is good, but there is a greater need for more genome sequencing and the private sector, rather than government agencies, should be allowed to do the same,” Gagandeep Kang said. , virologist and professor in the department of gastrointestinal sciences at Christian Medical College, Vellore.
In Hyderabad, there are a handful of private labs that claim to be able to reveal the virus variant by RT-PCR to identify whether someone has been infected with Delta or the rapidly transmitting Omicron variant of Covid-19. “We won’t know if a person is contagious to others or not until the virus has been grown in the lab, although current isolation rules and testing standards are good in practice,” said Kang.
Speaking about the current vaccination campaign, Dr. Kang drew attention to the importance of having a practical vaccination plan, especially in terms of the precautionary dose. “Various studies in the UK have shown that the protection provided by the precautionary dose diminishes within a few weeks… How long we can offer the precautionary doses to the general population, we also need to look at that from the point of from a sustainability standpoint,” she said. . Kang added that the vaccination campaign for adolescents aged 15 to 17 may not be effective in reducing the overall risk because this age group represents only 5% of the population.
According to Dr. Kang, Omicron provided significant relief during the pandemic as it caused mild infection. “There are several theories as to how it emerged, but there is no guarantee that another severe variant will not emerge, but we have better embraced now, as we know what works in terms of drugs, treatments, vaccines, behavior appropriate to Covid-19,” she said. “In countries like Singapore and Japan, half the population wore masks even before the pandemic,” she added.
“The current strategy of testing for symptoms is good, but there is a greater need for more genome sequencing and the private sector, rather than government agencies, should be allowed to do the same,” Gagandeep Kang said. , virologist and professor in the department of gastrointestinal sciences at Christian Medical College, Vellore.
In Hyderabad, there are a handful of private labs that claim to be able to reveal the virus variant by RT-PCR to identify whether someone has been infected with Delta or the rapidly transmitting Omicron variant of Covid-19. “We won’t know if a person is contagious to others or not until the virus has been grown in the lab, although current isolation rules and testing standards are good in practice,” said Kang.
Speaking about the current vaccination campaign, Dr. Kang drew attention to the importance of having a practical vaccination plan, especially in terms of the precautionary dose. “Various studies in the UK have shown that the protection provided by the precautionary dose diminishes within a few weeks… How long we can offer the precautionary doses to the general population, we also need to look at that from the point of from a sustainability standpoint,” she said. . Kang added that the vaccination campaign for adolescents aged 15 to 17 may not be effective in reducing the overall risk because this age group represents only 5% of the population.
According to Dr. Kang, Omicron provided significant relief during the pandemic as it caused mild infection. “There are several theories as to how it emerged, but there is no guarantee that another severe variant will not emerge, but we have better embraced now, as we know what works in terms of drugs, treatments, vaccines, behavior appropriate to Covid-19,” she said. “In countries like Singapore and Japan, half the population wore masks even before the pandemic,” she added.
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