India is considering three coronavirus vaccines for emergency use authorization (file)
New Delhi:
Existing coronavirus vaccines will work against mutated strains of the virus that have emerged from the UK and South Africa in recent months, the Health Ministry said in its briefing on Tuesday.
The ministry responded to fears that the first batch of vaccines would be ineffective against aggressive variants of a virus that has already infected more than one crore and killed 1.5 lakh people in India alone.
“There is no evidence that current vaccines do not protect against UK or South African variants of COVID-19,” said Professor K VijayRaghavan, senior scientific adviser to the government.
“Most vaccines target the spike protein (a part of the genetic code of the virus that mutations have altered) but vaccines stimulate our immune system to produce a wide range of antibodies. Changes in variants are not enough so that vaccines are ineffective, “he added.
The mutated versions of the coronavirus detected in the UK and South Africa are significantly more transmissible than other known strains; for example, the strain detected in London and South East England, which has been labeled B.1.1.7, is 70% more infectious.
India is likely to start its vaccination program in January, Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan said last week. The vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, and mass produced by the Pune-based Serum Institute, will likely be the first to be distributed.
The Oxford vaccine is pending approval by UK regulators. India has said it will wait for that decision before allowing emergency use in this country.
On Monday, Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla said the vaccine could be approved in the UK “in late December or early January”. He also said that most of the first 50 million doses would go to India.
A day earlier, AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot told a UK newspaper that his vaccine would “protect 95 percent of patients” and “should be” effective against mutant strains.
Other scientists have provided similar assurances, including the head of the EU drug regulator, who said that the Pfizer vaccine, which was launched in the UK and requested for emergency use in India, would also protect against the new strain.
Doctors say there is nothing to indicate that the new strains are causing more deaths, but they recommend caution as rising infection rates could put more people at risk.
In today’s briefing, the health ministry emphasized the need to continue to follow appropriate Covid behavior, including maintaining social distance, wearing face masks, and washing hands regularly.
Cases of the new strain have already been detected in several countries, including Australia, the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, France, Japan, and Sweden. This morning, India joined that list after six passengers who had recently returned from the UK tested positive.
Describing plans to combat the new strain and minimize its spread, the Health Ministry said that genome sequencing (to identify and isolate the mutated virus) will be carried out on all symptomatic and Covid-positive international passengers landing in India in the last 14 days.
The government also plans to perform genome sequencing on the five percent of Indians who tested positive since Nov. 23, to identify cases that may not have been recognized until now.
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