Dr Gagandeep KangNOTED VIROLOGIST and professor at Christian Medical College (CMC) Dr Gagandeep Kang on Friday highlighted the importance of clinical severity data to understand which Omicron variants and sub-variants need to be watched out for.
“Also, an Omicron bivalent vaccine would have an incremental advantage,” Dr Kang, who is a panellist in the ‘Roadmap to future vaccines’ session to be held on October 22 on the concluding day of the 23rd annual general meeting of the
Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers’ Network, told The Indian Express.
As the Covid-19 virus continues to change, vaccines are also keeping pace and here bivalent means targeting two strains of the virus. She said that an Omicron bivalent vaccine would have an incremental advantage. Interim results of a study published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine this month have shown that bivalent Omicron-containing vaccines had elicited neutralising antibody responses against Omicron without evident safety concerns.
Presently, tracking cases of severity is important in the event of any new variant, according to Dr Kang.
Dr Kang was elected to the US-based National Academy of Medicine “for her outstanding contributions to understand and improve child health through her research in enteric infectious diseases and vaccinology over decades benefiting children in India and low- and middle-income countries, and more recently to vaccine science, vaccination policy, and communication during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic”. Established in 1970, the National Academy of Medicine addresses critical issues in health, science, medicine, and related policy.