The mutated Covid virus will never really go away: A Velumani

A Velumani, Founder, Thyrocare Technologies, says viruses have been mutating. He expects to see more genomic studies in India. Omicron is moving fast, but not known to be deadly as yet.

Before I get into the specifics of your understanding of the new mutated virus, how is life treating you? You tweeted to say that after your stake sale, you are taking it very easy. Now it looks like a second innings is at play.
Yes, it is cool, calm and relaxing. After a long time I have found myself having time to do a few things I wanted to do. It is a good family time. Maybe till December 31 or even up to March 31, I would not be doing anything other than just reading what is happening around me and learning.

What is your understanding of the virus mutation? Is it dangerous, is it scary or is it manageable?
Viruses are known for mutations. Viruses have been mutating now so is the COVID whether this mutation is only in South Africa and then moving out other countries also have but they have not still studied the genomic sequence. We have no idea, now that we are all starting to get fearful and panicky, the Government of India will force a lot more genomic studies. Whether it is gone or still there, we should not give up.

Having said that, in my personal opinion, the virus appears to be moving fast or spreading fast. But I do not think anybody has reported it as deadly. It is fast so the reaction of the market is predictable because markets have learnt a lot in the first two waves. So market and government reactions are predictable. I think we are safe enough to have very mild, if at all any impact.

Medical experts are claiming that this virus can skip the immunity barrier even for the vaccinated people. In that case, the whole cycle starts again. Is it too early to conclude that?
I think it is very early. This is not one vaccine. There are dozens of vaccines manufactured across countries. These have gone to different geographies. It was recorded only three-four days back. It will take not less than 10 days to see whether one should be worried about the immunization programme.

If it proves to be deadly and produces symptoms that are very difficult to tolerate, then those are all extreme levels of concerns but I think as of today since vaccine is always made for the whole virus I have the reason to believe this virus mutated virus will never be totally be away. How much it is away to which vaccine these are all studies to be done it will take another 10 days it cannot be just predicted.

So do we go back to that whole conversation again -- whether Covaxin is affected or Covishield is affected; whether Pfizer is affected or Sputnik is affected?
Conversations will continue as long as multiple vaccines are there. All vaccines will not be similar. They are all biological chemicals, biological proteins or biological pharmaceuticals which will vary from one to another. Claiming mine is better or blaming somebody else does not make more business sense by the companies.

Sometimes even the research is biased towards proving why I am right. Let us leave it aside. I am of the opinion that this virus too will be covered by the existing vaccine.If the virus is very bad, we need to scale up fast with the experience of how vaccines are made. Now we need to change the formula of the vaccine to cover this one and probably imagine what more can happen and cover some more. The main cause of concern is if once in three months or six months, variants keeps coming, we will not be able to run our life normally without fear even for a decade.

Taking conversation forward, when it comes to the vaccine part, we must step up. It has been nothing short of a miracle what India has achieved with its vaccination. But as far as the booster shot goes, over the weekend, we have been hearing about Moderna saying it could have a vaccine ready for the omicron variant by early 2022. Pfizer is talking about in 100 days. Do you it is time India also starts talking about the booster shot?
There are two aspects to the booster. Booster adding more epitopes of virus and safeguarding us from future mutations is a true booster. It is needed if people can identify so that we do not have to wait till a mutation happens.

Second one is if the virus is not mutating. If the virus is the same, if you have already received two doses, I think there is no need for a booster dose. If at all one gets infected again, one will be positive in the test but will not have severe symptoms. It will mean you got a booster dose again. This is how booster doses work.

There are women who carry antibodies for 30 years, 40 years for some of the infections like CMV and HSV simply because they keep on getting infected from time to time and the boosters are happening naturally. So there is nothing that demands a booster. However, if a booster can add more epitopes of the virus and make it future proof, probably it will help.

There are questions being raised that those that cannot afford it, shouldn’t they be allowed to take the third shot of the Covaxin or the Covishield? Would it make a difference at all?
It makes a difference or not is a very big question. Rich people can always buy various vitamins and supplements and keep on eating it. Whether it helps or not we do not know. Body is made up in such a way that it needs something essential, anything excess does not cause damage. But in my personal opinion, if two booster doses are already given, one should relax because there is no end for adding every now and then. I do not think that will be needed for the common man.

What is the right option here, I mean, Pfizer indicated over the weekend in a statement that they can come up with a vaccine for the new variant in about 100 days. Is that how life is going to be, vaccine after vaccine?
Yes, it looks like that. When we were stuck in June-July 2020, people were saying no vaccine has been made in less than two years. But not only in India, all over the world, we have been successful in coming up with vaccines in almost 10-12 months. So if somebody says 100 days, I would not be surprised.

But if the virus is very deadly, 100 days is too long and that can create havoc. So let us hope this variant is safe though it is spreading fast. In the last two, three days nowhere in the world people have said that this new variant is producing very bad side effects. We should wait for another two, three days and see if there is any reason to be concerned.