Do existing Covid-19 vaccines work against Omicron? Health Minister has this answer

The Centre on Tuesday said that there is no evidence to suggest existing Covid-19 vaccines being used in the government’s vaccination drive do not work on the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, though some of the mutations reported on spike gene may lower their efficacy.

Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said: "There are limited available data, and no peer-reviewed evidence, on vaccine efficacy or effectiveness to date for Omicron.”

Mansukh Mandaviya made the remark in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

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His comments came as the government said India’s tally of the Omicron variant rose to 200 as cases have been detected in 12 states and Union territories so far.

Meanwhile in a letter to states and union territories, health secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote that Omicron is at least 3 times more transmissible than Delta.

The health secretary wrote hence, even greater foresight, data analysis, dynamic decision making & strict & prompt containment action are required at the local & district level.

A growing body of preliminary research suggests the Covid vaccines used in most of the world offer almost no defense against becoming infected by the highly contagious Omicron variant.