Booster doses won't stop the rapid spread of Omicron variant: Top medical expert

New Delhi: Amid the massive surge in Covid cases in the country, a top government expert on Tuesday said that the Omicron variant of Covid-19 is "almost unstoppable" and everyone will eventually be infected with it.

He added that booster vaccine doses won't stop the rapid spread of the virus and the infection will occur regardless of it.

Stressing that Covid is "not a frightening disease anymore" as the new strain is milder and is leading to much less hospitalisation, he said that it's a disease we can deal with. ''... we are dealing with quite a different virus. It's much milder than Delta, as you all know, not only that, it is practically unstoppable,'' Dr Jaiprakash Muliyil, epidemiologist and chairperson of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the National Institute of Epidemiology at the Indian Council of Medical Research, said, adding that Omicron presents itself just like the cold.

Claiming that natural immunity through infection could be lifelong and that's why India has not been as badly affected as many other countries, he said that 85% of the country was already infected before the vaccines were introduced in the country and hence, the first dose was essentially a booster dose.

Arguing the same against the testing of asymptomatic close contacts of Covid patients, he said the virus doubles infection in just two days, so even before the test detects its presence, the infected person has already spread it to a large number of people. "So even when you test, you are far far behind. It is not something that will make any difference in the evolution of the epidemic," he said.

"We have not suggested booster dose so far from any of the bodies of the government. To my knowledge, the precautionary dose was just suggested, because there are reports that certain people, mostly in the age group above 60, did not respond to two doses," he said.

"A majority of us will not know we have been infected, probably more than 80% will not even know when we have it," he concluded.