The vaccine industry is on alert and ready to respond to the Omicron variant of COVID-19 should it enter the country. Along with the Philippine medical community, it reiterates that the public can still receive ample protection from it through current and future anti-variant countermeasures like rapid changes in the COVID-19 vaccines, a faster vaccination campaign, and the strict observance of health protocols like social distancing.
Enrique Gonzalez, founder and chairman of IP-Biotech (IPB), said vaccine providers will be exercising agility to continually respond to the Omicron variant as it evolves.
“The world's vaccine industry is ready to respond with specific Omicron booster shots by making changes to the existing vaccines if the need arises. The production infrastructure is in place, and ramping up for next generations can be a rapid process,” he said.
IPB is the leading vaccine service provider and the local Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) holder of Coronavac's Sinovac vaccine.
Omicron has struck fear in a global population that is eager and anxious to go back to normal due to its speed of transmission and its large number of mutations.
“The best of nature, adaptation, has been put in our worst enemy, the virus. The level of mutation in Omicron, which right now exhibits an unprecedented number of mutations, shows a trend in terms of the evolutionary path of COVID-19 virus,” Gonzalez said.
Dr. Noel Miranda, IP Biotech’s Science Adviser, also confirmed the need for vaccine providers to continually study and counter-check Omicron because "it's unexpected emergence warns the world that the occurrence of a worst-case mutation should be an ongoing concern."
A study by South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) showed that Omicron may be more infectious compared to the Delta variant, with about 30 of its more than 50 mutations occurring on the spike protein. Omicron takes only 20 days to hit 90 percent of the genome-sequenced samples, when compared to Delta which takes approximately 100 days.
“While current vaccines may be less effective versus the new variants, vaccination is still the best form of protection from severe symptoms – and the only form of protection that we have. As the saying goes, none of us are safe until all of us are safe,” Gonzalez said.
Some members of the medical community believe that younger children should also be inoculated to protect them from COVID-19.
Dr. Benny Atienza, President of the Philippine Medical Association (PMA), said that "while it’s welcome news that minors have been included in the vaccination campaigns, we are yet to see them being rolled out to ages 5 to 11. I am hoping that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will eventually allow the same Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) mechanism for the said demographic. This will be also important in achieving herd immunity."
The Family Vaccine and Specialty Clinics Inc. (FVSC), which Gonzalez heads, has pioneered the vaccination of children, covering more than 20 provinces through 40 clinics and subsidizing about 50,000 patient visits per year.