Is Omicron a natural vaccine? Experts say perception is dangerous

omicron version COVID-19, which is said to be much more contagious than other types, however, is causing mild infections, fewer hospitalizations, and deaths, giving rise to the belief that it is a natural vaccine. can work.

Recently, a Maharashtra health official also claimed that Omicron would act as a natural vaccine and could help in the progress towards endemic stage of COVID-19.

Eminent virologist Shahid Jameel said that the notion that Omicron is a natural vaccine is a dangerous idea spread by irresponsible people.

“This creates complacency and lies in the fatigue of the pandemic and inability to do more than the evidence available at the moment,” he told PTI.

Jameel, former head of the Indian SARS-COV-2 Genomics Consortia (INASACOG) advisory group, said those advocating it do not take into account the “prolonged COVID” about which little is understood.

“Particularly in India, where malnutrition, air pollution and diabetes are rampant, voluntarily letting people exposed to a virus you understand so little about is not good science and public health,” They said.

Giridhar R Babu, professor and head of Lifecourse Epidemiology at the Public Health Foundation of India, said that no matter how mild the omicron is, it is not a vaccine.

“This type causes deaths and hospitalizations. Stay away from misinformation. Compared to vaccination, natural infections protect the population (death or hospitalization) against any type (alpha, beta, gamma or delta) Can’t. Supporters of herd immunity are saying it again that Omicron will confer herd immunity. Evidence matters, not opinion,” he said.

Shuchin Bajaj, Founder Director, Ujala Cygnus Group of Hospitals said the disease can have long-term effects and people need to be careful.

“It has been shown that it persists for more than six months in many other organs besides the lungs, such as the heart and brain and kidneys etc., even after a very mild infection. So we don’t really know what the long-term effects are. It can cause. We are already seeing prolonged COVID patients with brain fogging, inappropriate sinus tachycardia,” he said.

“So we really shouldn’t think of it as a vaccine. It’s not really a vaccine, Omicron caused us to die. We have ICU admissions because of Omicron. So it’s a lot milder than Delta But still, it is a virus and we need to be careful.”

Yash Zaveri, Head, Critical Care, Regency Health, Lucknow, however, said that due to the high infectivity and low severity of Omicron, it can help contain the pandemic.

“As a result, the entire community becomes protected, not just those who are immunized. An infection with the omicron variant not only induces an immune response against this variant, but provides higher protection against the delta variant, a The South African study found. Because of its high infectivity with low severity, Omicron may boost herd immunity still higher and help contain the pandemic,” he said.

Herd immunity occurs when a large part of a community (herd) becomes immune to a disease, reducing the chances of disease transmission from person to person.

ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava said last week that hybrid immunity, which develops as a result of vaccination and natural infection, mounts a strong response against COVID-19 and its variants.

This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed. Only the title has been changed.