'Vaccines might not be 100 per cent effective against new strain'

Maharashtra COVID19 task force head Dr Sanjay Oak on Wednesday said vaccines currently available in some countries may not be 100 per cent effective against the new variant of coronavirus found in UKTalking to reporters Oak also said mass gatherings were acting as COVID19 superspreaders and should be avoidedHe said there was a need to be careful and that he feels people need to wear masks for the next one yearReferring to the new COVID19 variant detected in Britain he said a minor change in them RNA has created a new strain of the coronavirusThe vaccines which are in approval stage or have been approved in some countries were developed on the earlier strains of coronavirus he saidEven a minor change in the mutated COVID19 strain could challenge the efficacy of the vaccines which are recently developedrdquo Oak saidThe outer layer of the virus has spikes which look like a coronavirus hence the virus is called as coronavirus Even a change in one spike could increase or decrease its severity the official saidBecause of the new strain the currently available vaccines may not have 100 per cent impact on the virus variant he saidWith a new strain found in some of the western countries and South Africa there is a need to check whether the vaccines will have similar efficacy against the new strain or not It will take some time to ascertain it he saidA vaccine is always developed on a particular strain of virus At the same time though a new strain has been found we must not forget that all these strains are part of one coronavirus family hence the vaccine could have some impact on its spreadrdquo Oak saidBut it will take time to find out how the new strain responds to the vaccine he saidMr Oak said the general practice is that a new vaccine is to be developed for a new virusIt has been said that the wait for new vaccine for the newly found strain is minimum six weeks he saidAnother factor that needs to be understood is once a person has COVID19 hisher body develops some neutralising antibodies against the virus he saidChances of COVID19 reinfection in the recovered person are dependent on the amount of antibodies developedIf there are good number of antibodies then despite second round of infection the person may not fall ill he saidIf you ask me about chances of infection from the newly detected strain of coronavirus the answer is yes said Oak who contracted COVID19 in June and later recoveredA person who has recovered from COVID19 may get fresh infection from the new strain but its impact on the body depends on the number of antibodies developed during the first infection the official saidIf there are sufficient number antibodies then the new strain may not be very harmful he saidA virus can mutate once its travels from one continent to another Hence we need to be more careful in the coming months I personally feel we need to wear mask for next one year he saidHe also said mass gatherings like weddings or other functions attended by hundreds of people are acting as super spreaders and should be avoidedThere are chances of many people catching infection by coming close to each other not wearing masks and gathering in large numbers in a small place he saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever