BackNew Covid variant may bypass immunity acquired through vaccines, warns AIIMS doctor
No case of variant B.1.1.529 has been detected in India until nowThe Union ministry of health and family welfare said reports of mutations in the new variant had ‘serious public health implications’
PremiumThe new Covid-19 variant B.1.1.529 may be able to bypass one's existing immunity acquired through vaccines or natural infection, reported news agency ANI, quoting an AIIMS doctor.
“It is a new variant. We need to wait and watch. We do not know its overall infectivity but the probability is that it may bypass your existing immunity either acquired through vaccines or natural infection. If it bypasses, it will be a serious issue," said Dr Sanjay Rai, centre for community medicine at AIIMS.
Reflecting similar views, Dr Anurag Agrawal, the director of the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in New Delhi, said it was too soon to comment on the variant. He said that more data was needed before he could add to the information that was already available.
Although no case of the new, which has a large number of mutations, has been reported in India so far, the government has asked all states and union territories to conduct rigorous screening and testing of all international travellers.
The Union ministry of health and family welfare said reports of mutations in the new variant had "serious public health implications".
Meanwhile, advisers to the World Health Organization held a special session Friday to flesh out information about the worrying new variant.
“We don't know very much about this, yet. What we do know is that this variant has a large number of mutations, and the concern is that when you have so many mutations it can have an impact on how the virus behaves," said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's technical lead on Covid-19.
"This is one to watch, I would say we have a concern. But I think you would want us to have a concern," she said.
Further, WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said it would take several weeks to determine the variant's transmissibility and the effectiveness of vaccines and therapeutics against it.
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