Only science-based policies will win battle against COVID: WHO scientist

Countries must implement science-based policies to curb the spread of coronavirus, Soumya Swaminathan, the chief scientist of the World Health Organization (WHO), said on Friday, dismissing night curfews as “not science-based” and having no evidence of effectiveness.

“We need to be prepared, but not panic. What we can expect to see in India is a surge of Omicron cases. I think it is just beginning now in some of the cities and is going to infect a lot of people,” she told a local TV channel.

“Countries should look at their own data: people who are dying, which vaccine did they take and how long ago did they have it, which population group should be targeted. This is how we learn about immunity. What we know now is the neutralising antibody responses do wane over a period of time, at about six months,” she said.

However, the T-cell immunity persists and that’s very important. “We need clinical studies and not just lab-based studies. So, what the WHO is really saying now is that our goals remain the same. We have to save the most vulnerable. Give them boosters. But at the same time, we do not have enough evidence that the entire population needs boosters. This is why the WHO is calling for a science-based approach in a way that we protect the most vulnerable but at the same time don’t deprive those who need the vaccine,” the scientist said.

In light of India’s “precautionary doses” and combining vaccines for boosters, she said that it needs to be driven by the data.

“So far that we have on this mix and match or combination have not included Corbevax. There is data on the Covavax that has been tried as a booster. Whether you take another shot of the same vaccine as booster or administer a different one, you get a good boost. What WHO said is that what vaccine you pick as the booster dose really depends on different things such as what you have used in that country, what supplies are available, what is acceptable to the public, what the costs are, etc. Whatever it is, boosters give good strengthening of the immune response as the memory cells get activated. In fact, some studies have shown that it may be preferable to use a different vaccine as a booster. Given the available data, I think countries can formulate their own policy based on their immune responses and the other factors such as cold storage, affordability. But, I think India is in a good position regarding number of vaccines available at hand,” Swaminathan said.

Recommending against closure of educational institutes, she said, “Politicians need to start balancing the scientific-based method to reduce the transmission and its impact on people, while at the same time keeping the economy open as people have suffered enough. Schools should be the last to be closed and first to be opened because prolonged school closure has devastating effect on children and education.”

Entertainment venues are places where these viruses spread the most and it is natural to bring in some restrictions there, she added.