‘OMICRON WILL CAUSE THIRD WAVE, BUT NOT A DEVASTATING ONE’

As COVID cases resurge in India with the occurrence of the Omicron variant, Dr Padmanabha Shenoy, rheumatology and medical director at CARE Hospital, Kochi said that although the variant can cause a third wave in India, it would not be as devastating as that in other countries. Shenoy, who has authored the paper “Hybrid immunity versus vaccine-induced immunity” published recently in the Lancet, said, “We may have omicron (wave) but it will not be as devastating as other countries.”

Hybrid immunity is immunity acquired by being both vaccinated and infected by the virus. “The problem with Omicron is that it has around 30 mutations in the spike protein against the vaccines. It has been shown in recent studies that there is a very high chance that for those who have received only vaccination or infection, the Omicron will evade or overcome the immunity,” he said.

Shenoy said that the virus still shouldn’t be underestimated and pressed on the importance of Covid Appropriate Behaviour. “India is in a better position (than other countries) because the maximum population has been already been infected and vaccinated, ” he said