Quickly adapting to corona variants vaccines is needed for India: VK Paul

In the midst of the Omicron menace, Niti Aayog member Dr VK Paul remarked on Tuesday that current Covid-19 vaccinations might become ineffective, and India should have vaccine platforms that are ‘adaptable swiftly’ to evolving coronavirus strains. The Covid Task Force chief, speaking at an event organised by industry group CII, advocated for vaccination modifications every year. “How quickly can we develop a vaccine that uses the same technology but is now tailored to the variation of the day?” he wondered.

“We have to be ready to be able to have a situation where resiliently we are able to modify the vaccines as they require. This may not happen every three months, but this could happen every year perhaps,” Dr Paul said while expressing concern over the changing nature of the Covid variants.

According to Paul, drug development will not go out of fashion for the next viral epidemic/pandemic that the world might face. “And of course, the anti-microbial resistance challenge is also crying for drug solutions,” he added.

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-19″.

“Pandemic is not over, we will continue to deal with uncertainty, even though we hope that we are possibly moving in the direction of endemicity, hopefully of a mild disease, that we can tackle,” he said.

Paul, however, added that it cannot be taken for granted.