No proof India variant alters vaccine efficacy
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — There is no proof yet that the COVID-19 variant first detected in India would significantly affect the efficacy of available vaccines, but the national government must ramp up its inoculation efforts to protect more Filipinos, an infectious diseases expert said Wednesday.
Dr. Rontgene Solante, chief of the Adult Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine unit at the San Lazaro Hospital, told CNN Philippines’ New Day on Wednesday that the government must improve its vaccination pace to help more people fight the B.1617 variant or the “double mutant” from India, along with other variants detected in other countries.
“The concern on this variant now is if this continues to circulate and our vaccination will not ramp up, there is a possibilty that eventually, our vaccine will really not be able to be effective against this variant,” said Solante, who is also a member of the government’s vaccine expert panel.
“But as of now, the ability of this variant is not significant enough to affect the efficacy of our available vaccines,” Solante added. He noted, however, that some other countries like the US are already looking at giving vaccine booster shots to control the pandemic.
