Preventing A Fresh Covid Outbreak: Intranasal Vaccine And Other Measures
The India Commentary view
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By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2022-12-24 07:09:01
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The India Commentary view
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With scary
reports about a tsunami of Covid infections coming out of China and fresh outbreak
in a number of other countries, the government of India has done well to take
immediate steps to prevent such an outbreak in the country. Although India is
reporting less than 200 cases daily (just 163 fresh cases were reported on December
23, 2022 and active cases dipped to just 3380) as of now, the danger of large
scale infections is always there even if one case of a new variant is not
detected and the person roams about infecting others. Hence, the moves to
randomly screen international passengers and send all Covid cases for genome sequencing
are welcome. So is the move to grant emergency use approval to India's first
intranasal vaccine, produced by Bharat Biotech, as a heterologous booster.
Studies have suggested that intranasal Covid vaccines are more efficient than
intramuscular ones.
It has already been established that natural infection combined with vaccination creates hybrid immunity and is the best first shield against the virus. Experts have pointed out that India is secure in this respect as there is abundant hybrid immunity. But although 95% of eligible Indians have taken two doses of the Covid vaccine, more than 75% have missed the booster dose. This is worrisome. After the initial success, the vaccination programme has become slack. The government must now revive it and start giving booster doses to those who have not taken it. There are 6 crore adults who have taken only one dose. They must be given the second dose. Then there are 7 crore senior citizens who have not taken the booster dose. As they are the most vulnerable section of the population (due to age and possible co-morbidities) they must be encouraged to take the booster dose. The same goes for frontline workers who have missed the booster dose. Further, there are a huge number of 12-17-year-olds who remain unvaccinated. They should be covered fast.The intranasal vaccine could be a game-changer (and Bharat Biotech should be asked to ramp up production) to pierce through vaccine hesitancy as it does not involve intramuscular injection.
Since more
than 6 to 9 months have passed since people took the booster dose, it is not
clear whether hybrid immunity would hold good for a large percentage of the
population. Expert advice must be sought that in the given situation, is it advisable
to start giving the fourth dose to frontline workers and senior citizens, to
start with. The government must reinvigorate
the vaccination setup, encourage private hospitals to resume it in real earnest
and start the vaccination drive again. That, along with strict enforcement of
Covid protocols like masking up in public, disallowing crowded events and
provision of hand sanitizer in public spaces will keep Indians safe. Genome sequencing
of all positive Covid samples will ensure that new variants will be discovered fast
and appropriate steps will be taken to prevent an outbreak.
Picture
courtesy: Bharat Biotech
