Covid-19: Repeating the same vaccine as booster dose not viable, says WHO
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: The World Health Organization (WHO) has said repeating the same vaccine as a booster dose is not a viable strategy against mutating coronavirus strains and called for new vaccines that could better protect against transmission of the scourge.
A WHO-created experts’ group, which assessed the performance of Covid-19 vaccines, warned on Tuesday that simply providing fresh jabs of existing vaccines, amid the emergence of new strains, was not the best way to fight the pandemic.
“A vaccination strategy based on repeated booster doses of the original vaccine composition is unlikely to be appropriate or sustainable,” the WHO Technical Advisory Group on Covid-19 Vaccine Composition (TAG-Co-VAC) said in a statement.
Preliminary data showed the vaccines are less effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 disease in people who have contracted the new Omicron variant currently spreading around the planet.
But protection against severe disease, which is what these vaccines are intended to do, “is more likely to be preserved”.
The WHO recommended that new vaccines be developed that not only protect people against falling seriously ill but could also better prevent infection and transmission of the virus.
“Covid-19 vaccines that have a high impact on the prevention of infection and transmission, besides the prevention of severe disease and death, are needed and should be developed,” TAG-Co-VAC said.
“Until such vaccines are available, and as the SARS-CoV-2 virus evolves, the composition of current Covid-19 vaccines may need to be updated, to ensure that (they) continue to provide WHO-recommended levels of protection against infection and disease by VOCs (variants of concern), including Omicron and future variants.”
