Monitor News Desk
Amid Omicron threat, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS director Dr. Randeep Guleria said current vaccines against Covid-19 could be tweaked to offer protection against newer variants of the contagion
He said that immunologists are concerned about the possibility of accruing further mutations, which could render the vaccines less effective.
However, such vaccines could be “tweaked” to overcome this problem. He said that apart from manufacturing billions of doses, the real challenge is the equitable distribution of vaccines to rich and poor countries.
Guleria was speaking at the 22nd Dr. VS Prayag Memorial Oration 2021 organized jointly by the Association of Physicians of India and Dr. Shirish Prayag family at the Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration.
According to Guleria, the 21st century is witnessing more outbreaks. “We had outbreaks of bird flu,
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), H1N1 pandemic, Ebola, Zika, and Nipah viruses. If observed closely, most of the infections are zoonotic in nature,” he said
A zoonosis is an infectious disease that has jumped from a non-human animal to humans.
According to him, the reasons behind the increase in new infectious diseases are growing travel, trade, and connectivity, increasing urbanization, and encroachment into new environments.
Earlier, India’s top Genomics scientist recommended `Covovax’ booster dose to counter Omicron
Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) director Anurag Agrawal has recommended `Covovax’ as a booster shot to counter the threat of Omicron variant of coronavirus.
Covovax is the Indian version of a Covid-19 vaccine developed by Novavax Inc and manufactured under licence by the Serum Institute of India (SII). It is a recombinant protein vaccine that uses spike proteins to teach the body how to develop immunity against the novel coronavirus.
Anurag Agrawal said Covovax has greater efficacy as a booster dose than Covishield. He did, however, clarify that further clinical studies are required on how much resistance Novovax provides against the Omicron variant.
“I do not think that the approved version, based on ancestral spike protein, will be directly very effective against Omicron since its efficacy against Beta was around 50 percent (much better than AZ though). It is however better than a third dose AstraZeneca/Covishield as a booster,” he said.
Comparing Covovax’s immune-response against data from COV-Boost’s vaccine trial, Anurag Agrawal said, “The immune boost, after two doses of AZ/Covishield, was far better for this than inactivated virus vaccine in COV-BOOST. Also, rapid modification of protein is possible for variant-specific immune response.”
He added that the WHO approval was good news for India and that the government shouldn’t waste much time in rolling out Covovax as a booster dose.
Novavax vaccine, as Covovax is known outside India, demonstrated 90.4 percent efficacy in a clinical trial involving 29,960 people in South Africa. The efficacy is on par with rival candidates from Pfizer and Moderna. It showed an efficacy of 100 percent at preventing moderate or severe disease, the New York Times reported.
Amid Omicron threat, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS director Dr. Randeep Guleria said current vaccines against Covid-19 could be tweaked to offer protection against newer variants of the contagion
He said that immunologists are concerned about the possibility of accruing further mutations, which could render the vaccines less effective.
However, such vaccines could be “tweaked” to overcome this problem. He said that apart from manufacturing billions of doses, the real challenge is the equitable distribution of vaccines to rich and poor countries.
Guleria was speaking at the 22nd Dr. VS Prayag Memorial Oration 2021 organized jointly by the Association of Physicians of India and Dr. Shirish Prayag family at the Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration.
According to Guleria, the 21st century is witnessing more outbreaks. “We had outbreaks of bird flu,
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), H1N1 pandemic, Ebola, Zika, and Nipah viruses. If observed closely, most of the infections are zoonotic in nature,” he said
A zoonosis is an infectious disease that has jumped from a non-human animal to humans.
According to him, the reasons behind the increase in new infectious diseases are growing travel, trade, and connectivity, increasing urbanization, and encroachment into new environments.
Earlier, India’s top Genomics scientist recommended `Covovax’ booster dose to counter Omicron
Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) director Anurag Agrawal has recommended `Covovax’ as a booster shot to counter the threat of Omicron variant of coronavirus.
Covovax is the Indian version of a Covid-19 vaccine developed by Novavax Inc and manufactured under licence by the Serum Institute of India (SII). It is a recombinant protein vaccine that uses spike proteins to teach the body how to develop immunity against the novel coronavirus.
Anurag Agrawal said Covovax has greater efficacy as a booster dose than Covishield. He did, however, clarify that further clinical studies are required on how much resistance Novovax provides against the Omicron variant.
“I do not think that the approved version, based on ancestral spike protein, will be directly very effective against Omicron since its efficacy against Beta was around 50 percent (much better than AZ though). It is however better than a third dose AstraZeneca/Covishield as a booster,” he said.
Comparing Covovax’s immune-response against data from COV-Boost’s vaccine trial, Anurag Agrawal said, “The immune boost, after two doses of AZ/Covishield, was far better for this than inactivated virus vaccine in COV-BOOST. Also, rapid modification of protein is possible for variant-specific immune response.”
He added that the WHO approval was good news for India and that the government shouldn’t waste much time in rolling out Covovax as a booster dose.
Novavax vaccine, as Covovax is known outside India, demonstrated 90.4 percent efficacy in a clinical trial involving 29,960 people in South Africa. The efficacy is on par with rival candidates from Pfizer and Moderna. It showed an efficacy of 100 percent at preventing moderate or severe disease, the New York Times reported.
Phase III trials were launched in the United Kingdom in September 2020, where they reached an efficacy of 96 percent against the original coronavirus variant. The company is also developing a vaccine against new variants of Covid-19.
