Low vaccine stocks in focus as new covid variants spread

New Delhi: As Covid cases rise in India amid low vaccine stocks, the Centre has set up a committee to review the situation and ensure that the country is ready to manage the unfolding situation.

The panel, constituted by health and family welfare ministry, met earlier this week and last week to discuss covid preparedness, including low vaccine stocks, surveillance, testing, beds, and medicines, said two people familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity. 

The committee of nation’s top scientists and officials called for keeping the surveillance strong, increasing the pace of testing and putting out advisory, said on of the two people. The panel also reviewed covid-19 vaccine stocks in view of the vulnerable and high risk population including the elderly or people with co-morbid conditions, and recommended augmenting the number of beds and medicines in the hospitals, the official said.

The meeting was attended by officials from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Queries emailed to health minister JP Nadda’s office, health secretary Punya Salila Srivastava, and health ministry spokesperson on 28 May remained unanswered till press time.

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and other government laboratories are conducting environmental surveillance, collecting and analyzing sewage samples to understand the latest covid-19 surge. Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram are seeing a spike in new covid patients. India has reported 1,010 active covid cases till 26 May, with seven people succumbing to the infection. However, the health ministry is yet to officially confirm the mortality numbers. 

Also Read: COVID cases rise across India: Noida logs 19 active infections, Kerala hits 519

The country has already started the genome sequencing of covid-19 cases to identify the variant behind the recent surge, with the genome typing being done by the National Institute of Virology (NIV-Pune). Two new variants of coronavirus—NB.1.8.1 and LF.7—found in India have mutated from an earlier JN.1 variant.

Mild variant

Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech manufactured billions of doses of vaccines for Indians and for supplying more than 100 countries during the first few wave of the pandemic. However, after the situation eased, the last Covid vaccine batches were manufactured a year ago, with no visibility on new stocks. 

“Right now, the virus looks very mild. We are tracking the number of covid-19 cases and hospitalisations happening across the country, and alerted all the laboratories,” said the second government official cited earlier. “We have discussed covid-19 preparedness measures and other surveillance strategies.” 

Also Read: Covid-19: Is new variant JN.1 severe? All FAQs answered as Thane reports death

Medical research shows vaccines give two different levels of protection. The first is against infection which is short-lived, and naturally wanes in about six months. Besides, the virus is also continually changing. The second type of protection is long-lasting, and protects our internal organs against severe diseases. 

A government scientist, while speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that almost all the individuals have contracted covid-19 infection multiple times. 

“People have developed hybrid immunity (natural plus immunity via vaccine). In this situation, the requirement of booster dose becomes very negligible. This infection is now very mild and thus a vaccine may not be needed,” the scientist said. “Earlier also there was no strong recommendation for booster dose. Hospitalisation are primarily due to co-morbid or underlying health conditions. Also, vaccines do not prevent any infection.” 

Public health experts have said there was no reason to panic because the cases were mild, while advising developing vaccine for the newest variant.

“There are a few reports of the hospitalisation and deaths, but these deaths are being reported in patients with comorbidities. The Tamil Nadu government also said that the death which occurred was a co-incidental finding of covid, because we have ramped up our testing capacity,” said Dr Soumya Swaminathan, former director-general of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the former chief scientist at WHO. 

ICMR surveillance data indicates that there is not much increase in the severity of hospitals or deaths and a vaccine is anyway not going to prevent mild infections, Dr Swaminathan said, citing the Omicron wave despite vaccination. “The immunity which we have now is protecting us that is why we are getting mild infections,” she said. “Maybe in the future, it covid variant changes to another severe mutant, then we have to quickly modify and manufacture those vaccines and then have a program. Even in the current scenario, there does not seem to be any need for the boosters.”

New variant vaccine

Dr Swaminathan suggested that companies must create a vaccine using the latest variant, which is possible to do now. “The moment we get the genome sequencing data, companies should be able to create that vaccine. There’s no point in giving the old vaccine made from an original strain of covid,” she said, adding the many companies in the West update their vaccines every year.

The WHO has not classified the new covid mutation as ‘variant of concern or variant of interest’, and has advised senior and high-risk people to be careful and put masks when they go out. 

Covid vaccination approach has varied with every country, based on the disease burden, said Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, past president at Indian Medical Association (IMA), Cochin Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, citing the conservative approach of Scandinavian nations and aggressive vaccination in the US. 

“India’s population is already well-immunised. Our percentage of vaccination coverage is also high, with limited vaccine hesitancy. We rightly prioritised delivering vaccines to those who were at significantly greater risk of death and severe disease,” he said. “In the subsequent years, the population has also been exposed to various versions of this virus. This has erased the lack of immune memory that had contributed to the deaths and severe disease in the early part of the pandemic.”

“The disease has become milder now, which changes the decision-making balance,” Dr Jayadevan said. “While mitigation strategies are important to limit the spread, there is no role for universal booster vaccine shots at this time.”