KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 13): Repeating booster doses of the original Covid-19 vaccines is not a viable strategy against new coronavirus variants and current vaccines need to be reworked to ensure they are effective, said experts.
Citing the World Health Organisation (WHO) Technical Advisory Group on Covid-19 Vaccine Composition (TAG-Co-VAC), health news portal CodeBlue on Wednesday (Jan 12) said a vaccination strategy based on repeated booster doses of the original vaccine composition is unlikely to be appropriate or sustainable.
The portal reported that the group said the composition of current Covid-19 vaccines need to be updated to not only protect people who contract Covid against serious illness but also better prevent people from infection against Omicron and future variants.
“Covid-19 vaccines that have high impact on prevention of infection and transmission, in addition to the prevention of severe disease and death, are needed and should be developed,
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“Covid-19 vaccines need to elicit immune responses that are broad, strong, and long-lasting in order to reduce the need for successive booster doses,” said TAG-Co-VAC.
However, TAG-Co-VAC fell short of calling for an Omicron-specific vaccine at this stage, saying more research is needed and urging manufacturers to share data.
It said that an updated vaccine could be aimed specifically at the dominant variant, or be a “multivalent vaccine” that could fight several variants at once.
Some vaccine manufacturers are already in the process of developing next-generation Covid-19 vaccines targeting Omicron.