In view of a new variant of concern Omicron, vaccines may become ineffective, VK Paul Niti Aayog, Member-Health said Tuesday at a virtual conference of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).

“In the wake of the last three weeks of living with Omicron, we have seen how such doubts have come up.. Some of them may be genuine. We still don't have the final picture and that worries us. Therefore, there is a need to have vaccine platforms that are adaptable quickly,” Paul said.

“The possibility that we need to tweak and for us to remain in the game with the changing nature of the variant remains valid. How soon we can create a vaccine using the same platform but now targeted to the variant of the day,” Paul added.

“Moving from rapid development of the generic vaccine, we have to be ready to be able to have a situation where resiliently we are able to modify the vaccine . This may not happen every three months but perhaps every year. Therefore, that needs to be factored in. The companies need to be helped in that regard,” Paul stated.

"Drug development will not go out of fashion for the next viral epidemic or pandemic that we might face, and the antimicrobial resistance challenge is crying for drug solutions. Lastly, it is science of the highest quality that we need to invest in to tackle these challenges," Paul said.

One of the fundamental issues, Paul said, is to improve the access to vaccines. The priority is of course the universal coverage of the vaccination and no one is left behind, he stated. “We have 3.6 billion people who are still not vaccinated. We need 7.2 billion doses together, I guess. The current rate of the production is well within our grasp. It is possible for us to deliver the vaccine. So the debate should be how do we accelerate the delivery,” Paul said.

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