Omicron Scare: Parliamentary Panel Asks To Check Efficacy Of Vaccines, Improve Health Infrastructure

The committed then said although the second wave came almost six months after the peak of the first wave, India's testing infrastructure remained "abysmal and highly insufficient".

New Delhi: As the concerns of Omicron the new variant detected of the Coronavirus increase, the Standing Committee on Health presented a report which among other things stated that the vaccine efficacy must be evaluated and the government conduct more research to examine the need for booster doses to contain the new strain.

In the report presented on Friday, the committee stated that concerns with regard to the new strain developing immunoescape mechanism should be critically addressed, PTI report.

The committee noted that during the second wave of Covid-19 the government was unprepared and measures taken inadequate and suggested that currently as the threat of looms, the focus should be on strengthening health infrastructure, ensuring adequate availability of beds, supply of oxygen cylinders and essential medicines.

This is evident from the fact that unlike the first wave (which peaked in September 2020) of the COVID-19 pandemic, which largely was restricted to urban areas where testing was introduced rapidly, the second wave (peaked in May) largely spread through rural towns and villages, it said in its report.

"The committee believes that timely detection and isolation of potentially infectious people is very crucial in reducing the impact of the pandemic. The importance of diagnostic testing, therefore, cannot be overlooked," the panel said in its report.

The committee, thus, observed that there is a dire need for improving the geographical spread of testing facilities in rural regions of the country. It also recommended establishing sync between PHCs/CHCs with the VRDLs in the states.

Then the committee observed that the government should ramp up vaccines make sure to grant approval to more vaccines, increase vaccine production, enhance delivery capacity and increase the vaccination rate, the committee said in its recommendations.

"With the incidence of highly mutated Omicron (B.1.1.529) strain of Covid virus, the committee strongly believes that the efficacy of the vaccines must be evaluated. The concerns with regards to the new strain developing immunoescape mechanism need to be critically addressed," it recommended.

The committed then said although the second wave came almost six months after the peak of the first wave, India's testing infrastructure remained "abysmal and highly insufficient".

It then said that India must realise its full testing capacity and augment this capacity even further and that the government should ensure that the testing should far outpace the growth of the cases to arrest future waves of Covid early.

"The committee also noted that with the new strain of Covid, Omicron (B.1.1.529), exhibiting 30 plus mutations, tracking and testing facilities especially at airports must also be strengthened and rigorous testing and screening of travellers must be carried out," it said.

The committee also sought to be apprised of the 'plan of action' with respect to utilisation of Rs. 64,179.55 crore allocated for strengthening public health infrastructure for pandemic preparedness.