Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin May Be 'More Effective' Against Omicron Than Other Vaccines: ICMR Official

Two persons have tested positive for Omicron variant in Karnataka. Both patients have travel history to South Africa.

The Omicron variant of COVID-19, which has been recently dubbed a 'variant of concern' by the WHO, has also been detected in India. Two persons have tested positive for the variant in Karnataka. Both patients have travel history to South Africa. Balram Bhargava, Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) confirmed the first two cases of Omicron variant in India on Thursday. He has asked people not to panic and continue adhering to COVID protocols.

In a very short period of time, Omicron variant has spread across the world. The variant's transmissibility, severity and ability to evade vaccines, remain unclear. However, scientists have cautioned that it carries a large number of mutations, including some worrisome mutations that may let it evade antibodies.

Meanwhile, an Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) official has reportedly claimed that India's indigenous COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin may be more effective against the Omicron variant compared to other available jabs.

The official told a national daily said that since Covaxin is a virion-inactivated vaccine "it covers the entire virus and can work against this highly mutated new variant".

Covaxin effective against other variants too

Research shows Covaxin effective against other variants such as Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta, "so we can expect that it will be effective against the new variant as well", stated another ICMR official, quoted by the newspaper.

Though the officials expect that Covaxin will provide protection against Omicron variant, they also warned we "have to be watchful till we get samples and test them." They hope to start testing the vaccine's efficacy at the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, once they get samples.

However, Bharat Biotech has not anything about Covaxin's efficacy against the new strain.

Omicron has over 30 mutations in the spike protein region

Earlier, AIIMS chief Dr Randeep Guleria had said that Omicron has over 30 mutations in the spike protein region, which may enable it to develop an immune escape mechanism.

Speaking to news agency on November 28, Guleria explained that most vaccines work by forming antibodies against the spike protein, and when there are many mutations at the spike protein region, the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines may decrease. Thus, efficacy of vaccines needed to be evaluated critically in case of the Omicron variant.

The Omicron variant was first reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) by South Africa on November 24. Since then, it has been identified in multiple countries across the globe.