Effective strategy is to fully vaccinate population: V K Paul on Omicron

Amid concerns over Omicron, NITI Aayog Member-Health, Dr VK Paul said the effective strategy is to ensure that the adult population of India is vaccinated

Amid concerns over the Omicron variant of COVID-19, NITI Aayog Member-Health, Dr VK Paul on Tuesday said that the effective strategy is to ensure that the adult population of India is vaccinated with the two doses of vaccines.

Speaking to media in Bhubaneswar, Dr Paul said, "The current strategy and effective strategy is to ensure that the adult population of India is covered with the two vaccines that are in our program-Covishield and Covaxin, and now a DNA vaccine may also be added to an extent."

He said that it is the most effective step that we can and should take in the current scenario.

"It is the most effective step that we can and should take in the current scenario. That includes factoring in for Omicron surge visible in a certain way globally although in India we are finding very few cases as of now. We need to cover every adult of our nation with 2 doses of the vaccine," said Dr Paul.

Dr Paul further said that the country's strength of vaccine development and production would not fulfill needs just for today but will also help in the coming future with regard to some other pandemic, zoonotic disease, an infection that may come next.

"We need to remember that strength we have today of vaccine development and production would not fulfill our needs just for today. This is also going to help if some other pandemic, zoonotic disease, the infection comes next, I have appealed to them that we need all these platforms strong and resilient. so that we can approach them swiftly through multiple platforms when such a situation occurs again. This is the strength of our country as well as the world," he added.

He further said, "The two doses of available vaccine must reach every adult. We are watching the situation with regard to Omicron, the world is trying to understand the science behind it. But today in time in immediate future, we must complete the task of vaccinating every adult with two doses of the vaccine."

A new variant of COVID-19 was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) from South Africa on November 25. As per the WHO, the first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on November 9 this year.

On November 26, the WHO named the new COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529, which has been detected in South Africa, as 'Omicron'. The WHO has classified Omicron as a 'variant of concern'.