Our vaccines may become ineffective with new strains of COVID-19 virus: VK Paul

India's COVID Task Force Chief VK Paul has said that there is a potential scenario that vaccines might become ineffective in emerging situations, even as the world battles with the new Omicron variant. He went on to stress the need for modifying the present COVID-19 vaccines available in the market.

VK Paul was addressing a session on 'From Epidemic to Endemic: The New Paradigm' at the Partnership Summit 2021, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Tuesday. During the session, Paul suggested the need for having vaccine platforms that adapt quickly to the changing nature of the variants.

The COVID-19 pandemic has taught that viruses cannot be taken lightly, and the unpredictability in emerging scenarios of health have to be respected and addressed, Paul noted. The new variant called B.1.1.529 or Omicron was first reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) from South Africa on November 24.

According to Paul, drug development will not go out of fashion for the next viral epidemic/ pandemic that the world might face and that anti-microbial resistance challenge is also crying for drug solutions. Noting that there is a need to examine how India's classical drug industry can have a roadmap and risk-taking attitude, he said, "We are still crying for an effective drug to fight viral diseases, including COVID".

VK Paul also added that the foremost priority right now is to make sure that there is universal coverage of the vaccine and no one is left behind.