Before the third wave

The vaccine policy urgently needs revision

The number of new Covid-19 infections may suggest that India is not in the throes of the dreaded third wave of the pandemic. But given the highly infectious nature of the Omicron variant, it is critical that the country is prepared well ahead. To be sure, the number of daily new cases as on December 23 at 7,495 represents a steady fall from the May high of 400,000-plus, and epidemiologists have suggested that Omicron is a variant of concern, not panic, since the symptoms from the virus are mild and rarely result in death. This benign outlook should not lull the Centre and state governments. It is now clear that the Omicron variant is present within the community and, even with the lags in genome sequencing, spreading rapidly. The fact that a large number of Omicron infections are said to be asymptomatic adds to the problems.

This situation, therefore, demands renewed efforts to contain it. Some states such as Delhi and Odisha have been proactive in limiting social functions and banning public festivities over the holidays — Bhubaneshwar, in fact, had imposed this ban as early as November. Chennai has made the Marina Beach and other beaches out of bounds for New Year revelry. Haryana has decreed that only fully vaccinated people will be allowed into public places —and that includes fuel pumps and mandis — with effect from January 1. Delhi and Maharashtra have also bolstered beds and oxygen supply. All these steps are praiseworthy but unlikely to staunch the spread of the virus unless they are taken on a national level.

Though the burden of responsibility is the states’, the big bang solution lies with the Centre. A little under half the population is awaiting the second dose, which is known to offer viable protection against Omicron. Now that vaccine supplies are no longer an issue, the government would do well to shorten the gap between the first and second doses so that more Indians are fully vaccinated. Second, the Centre urgently needs to consider booster doses for the elderly, the vulnerable, and front line workers, as a start, as is being done in Europe and the US. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has requested the Centre to allow it to go ahead with booster shots, and it would be a good idea if the states were given the freedom to take this decision. The complication, though, could lie in the policy that has permitted only two vaccines to be used in the public programme.

A booster typically requires a different vaccine from the original two doses. Since the bulk of India has had the Serum Institute’s Covishield jab, the booster would have to be the indigenous Bharat Biotech-ICMR Covaxin, which is simply not being produced in large enough numbers to be available for boosters. Given this, fast-tracking approvals for foreign vaccines should be an option at the top of the table. Their safety is now well established because they have been administered to large numbers of people across the world (including among the vast Indian diaspora), so foreign vaccine makers’ demand to waive indemnity should not be a sticking point.