Omicron: Booster dose must

With the health experts sounding alert amid the faster spread of Omicron, a new Covid variant, the specialists treating the influenza patients have called for a booster dose among the people to prevent any eventuality. Nearly 50 people have been tested positive across India, who have got infected with Omicron so far. Amidst the threat, the government in Jammu and Kashmir has taken a series of steps, especially ensuring thorough testing of all international travelers at Srinagar as well as Jammu airport. Besides, several other measures like establishing separate centres have been made available for such patients. Nonetheless, the need for a booster would help the administration in preventing any eventuality due to the new variant. The health experts in Jammu and Kashmir have warned of higher rates of reinfections due to the new variant in persons who have recovered from Covid-19 infection. They believe that the risk of reinfection from the Omicron is higher than for any previous variants. According to a new study published in the preprint server medRxiv, the Omicron variant is three times more likely to cause reinfection compared to the Delta variant. The study was based on data collected through South Africa’s health system on about 2.8 million confirmed coronavirus infections between March 2020 and 27 November, 2021 including 35,670 suspected reinfections. Therefore it has become imperative for those who are unvaccinated to get the vaccine and those who have received both jabs of Covid-19 vaccine to get the booster shot. The booster doses would help broaden an individual’s immune response against different variants of Covid. The experts believe that the higher levels of antibodies could keep the new variant at bay. Therefore, the government should consider giving booster doses to the people, who have got reinfected so that the situation could be prevented from getting worse on time.