As Omicron gets reported across the country, a growing number of experts now say that a booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine “seems to help” in high-risk, high-exposure people, to shore-up their immunity against the new variant.

In a latest, Anurag Agrawal, Director at the CSIR Institute Of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB), indicated that the third dose and booster dose “seem to help” amidst the spread of Omicron.

Agrawal also suggested that “high-risk people receiving inactivated virus vaccines may be prioritised first. Other high-risk and high-exposure next, while ensuring that the global circle of fully vaccinated expands,” he said in a series of Tweets posted on Saturday.

Highlighting that “ There is a near worst-possible case for Omicron evading immunity induced by prior infections or vaccines,” Agrawal stated that “Infection and vaccination (with mRNA vaccines) seems to produce adequate neutralising antibodies to handle Omicron well.”

Hoping for a mild upper respiratory-tract infection that gives long immunity wouldn’t be “a safe path”, he said cautioning that a perception of Omicron being the solution for Omicron is misplaced. Presently, over 63 countries have reported presence of Omicron.

Increasing the antibody count

Health experts from Ashoka University also emphasised the need for booster shots to increase the amount of antibodies and cut reinfection rates. “..it is now time that India devises policies on booster shots and vaccination for children,” said Shahid Jameel, Director, Trivedi School of Biosciences, Ashoka University at a discussion on ‘SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant’ on Friday.

Gautam Menon, Professor of Physics and Biology, Ashoka University, underlined the need to “step up the vaccination programme to vaccinate around 15% of India’s totally unvaccinated adults and also administer the second dose to the remaining population.”

Also read: Contact of Omicron case in Rajasthan tests Covid positive in Delhi

“Booster shots may be necessary, at least initially for frontline health care workers, those about 60 years of age and those who are immunocompromised, but others can wait for them,” he added. The health experts expect India’s case count to rise by early next year on the lines of other countries with high levels of vaccination, such as Israel and the UK. Till the protection isn’t ensured and intensity of the new variant is ascertained, experts recommend use of masks, ventilation, physical distancing and stepping up vaccination as strategies to reduce the spread of Covid-19.

Omicron spread in the UK

Meanwhile, in its latest update on Omicron released on December 10, the UK Health Security Agency notes that none of the cases to date is known to have been hospitalised or died. It estimates that “if Omicron continues to grow at the present rate, the variant will become the dominant strain, accounting for more than 50% of all Covid-19 infections in the UK by mid-December.”

The UK agency’s analysis looked at 581 people with confirmed Omicron and revealed that the AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines provided much lower levels of protection against symptomatic infection compared to the protection that they provide against Delta. “However, the preliminary data showed effectiveness against the new variant appears to increase considerably in the early period after a booster dose, providing around 70% to 75% protection against symptomatic infection,” it added.

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