Covid-19 cases rise in India: Existing vaccines protect against new JN.1 sub-variant? What expert says
- Covid 19 latest news: New covid variant JN.1, a variant of interest, has been classified by the World Health Organization. Vaccines may not completely block JN.1 infections, but they can reduce the likelihood of severe illness and hospitalisation
Covid 19 cases have started increasing once again in India. The number of active Corona patients in thecountry has reached 2,311. Along with this, the threat of JN.1 sub-variant is also being seen; its cases are being reported in Kerala.
What is JN.1 sub-variant?
JN.1 is a descendant of the "pirola" variant BA 2.86, which by itself is an Omicron subvariant. JN.1 has an additional mutation receptor binding domain (L455S) compared to BA 2.86. JN.1 has extensive resistance across receptor binding domain classes 1, 2, and 3 and shows higher immune evasion as compared with BA 2.86 and other resistant strains.
The World Health Organization has classified JN.1 as a variant of interest.
In the wake of surging COVID-19 cases in the country, a major question that arises is whether the vaccination administered before will be effective now.
In an interaction with Livemint, Dr. Gurmeet Singh Chabbra, Director-Pulmonary, Marengo Asia Hospitals Faridabad said that according to CDC, vaccines will not block completely JN.1 infections, they should reduce likely hood of severe illness and hospitalisation.
“Data from Singapore shows that those who received their last vaccine dose less than 1 year ago were less likely to develop severe disease as compared to those who received it more than a year ago,” Dr. Gurmeet Singh Chabbra said.
Will existing vaccines work against JN.1?
As per Dr. Gurmeet Singh Chabbra, those who received covid vaccine more than a year ago were 1.6-fold more likely to need hospitalisation.
“Most vaccines available in INDIA were developed against the ancestral variant of SARs- cov-2 and have only been tested against initial Omicron variants and were found effective,” he said.
As per WHO, Pirola and JN.1 were effectively neutralised by serum from humans who had had covid infection and received covid vaccination as well but not neutralized by serum of animals who only received vaccination and did not have natural covid infection.
As per WHO current available vaccines continue to protect against severe disease and death from JN.1 and other circulating variants of SARs- cov-2 he added.
Symptoms of new covid variant JN.1
Symptoms may include fever, runny nose, sore throat, and headaches.
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Business NewsNewsIndiaCovid-19 cases rise in India: Existing vaccines protect against new JN.1 sub-variant? What expert says
First Published:21 Dec 2023, 10:28 AM IST
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