Soon after the detection of six cases of new strain of Covid-19 in the country, the Government on Tuesday assured that the vaccines under development would also work against the mutated pathogen first reported in the UK .
“No need to worry about vaccines. Vaccines will work against the variants detected in the UK and South Africa. There is no evidence that current vaccines will fail to protect against the new mutant strains,” said Principal Scientific Adviser K VijayRaghavan at a presser here.
However, he said that even as the vaccine will provide safety from the new variants, “there is a need to reduce transmission through physical distancing, follow all public health measures scrupulously, wear masks, follow hand-washing, COVID appropriate behaviour, infection control, amplify test, track, isolate efforts.”
The scientific advisor’s statement came hours after 6 samples of UK returnees tested positive for the new strain in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune.
“There is no evidence that current vaccines will fail to protect against COVID-19 variants reported from the UK or South Africa. Most vaccines do target the Spike protein, in which there are changes in the variants, but vaccines stimulate our immune system to produce a wide range of protective antibodies. The changes in the variants are not sufficient to make the vaccines ineffective,” the scientist explained through a presentation made at the press briefing here.
He further said, “The nature of the new variants: eight of the 17 important changes are in the part which codes for the Spike protein. One change (N501Y) increases affinity for the ACE2 receptor, used for viral entry into human cells. It has been linked earlier to increased infectivity and transmission in animal models. Another change (P681H) promotes entry into susceptible cells and increases transmission in animal models of infection.
“The South Africa also shares the N501Y mutation with the UK variants, in addition to other distinct changes.”
Regarding the variant detected in the UK, VijayRaghavan sasid, it was more transmissible and the variant is spreading very rapidly taking over the frequency of other variants.
“It is also reflected in a large increase in positivity rate in the UK. We must take extraordinary precautions to prevent these kinds of variants from dominating populations.”
The Scientific Advisor further added, “The Indian SARS-CoV2 Genomics Consortium is conducting testing and sequencing of samples from international travelers. Testing and sequencing of samples also being done from across the country and from those being admitted to hospitals.”
However, he had a word of advice. “As vaccines become available, we should not be complacent. There is a need to reduce transmission through physical distancing, follow all public health measures scrupulously, wear masks, follow hand-washing, COVID appropriate behaviour, infection control, amplify test, track, isolate efforts,” he added.