Omicron acts as natural vaccine? Experts say notion rooted in ‘pandemic fatigue’
Experts have dismissed the claim of the Omicron variant of coronavirus being a natural vaccine as a “dangerous idea” by irresponsible people who don’t take long Covid into account.
The Omicron causing milder infections and less hospitalisation and deaths have led to the notion that the new variant of concern may act as a natural vaccine. A Maharashtra health official recently said that the new variant spread faster than Delta, but there have been few hospitalisations.
“We hope this trend continues. If this happens, Omicron will act as a natural vaccination and may help in its (COVID-19) progression towards the endemic stage,” state surveillance officer Dr Pradeep Awate told PTI.
Noted virologist Shahid Jameel said it is a dangerous idea spread by irresponsible people.
“It breeds complacency and is rooted more in pandemic fatigue and the inability to do more, than in evidence available at this time,” PTI quoted Jameel as saying.
Jameel said that those propagating the natural vaccine theory don’t take into account the effects of “long Covid”.
“Especially in India, where malnutrition, air pollution and diabetes are rampant, to willingly let people be exposed to a virus about which you understand little is not good science and public health,” he added.
Giridhara R Babu, the head of Lifecourse Epidemiology at the Public Health Foundation of India, urged people to stay away from this misinformation, saying there have been deaths and hospitalisations due to the Omicron variant.
“Compared to vaccination, natural infection cannot protect the population (against death or hospitalisation) against any variant (Alpha, Beta, Gamma or Delta). Proponents of herd immunity are saying it again that Omicron would provide herd immunity. Evidence matters, not opinions,” he said.
Shuchin Bajaj, founder-director, Ujala Cygnus Group of Hospitals, cautioned about the long term effects of the disease.
“It has been shown that it can be seen persisting for more than six months in various other organs in addition to lungs, like heart and brain and kidneys etc, even after very mild infections. So we don’t really know what long term effects it can cause. We are already seeing a lot of long COVID patients with brain fogging, inappropriate sinus tachycardia,” he said.
“So we should not really think of this as a vaccine. It’s not really a vaccine, we have had deaths due to Omicron. We have had ICU admissions due to Omicron. So it is a much milder version compared to Delta but still, it is a virus and we need to be careful,” he added.