Odisha’s Top Health Official Says Vaccines Will Offer Protection Against Omicron

Bhubaneswar: State Director of Family Welfare Bijay Panigrahi on Tuesday said that existing COVID-19 vaccines will protect the vaccinated against the new Omicron variant.

“Though vaccines are not able to give cent per cent protection against Omicron, they will at least provide cross-protection to the vaccinated. Fully vaccinated people will not be that critical if infected by Omicron. There is also less chance of hospitalisation and death for them,” said Panigrahi.

“The number of Omicron cases is increasing in other states and there are chances that some people of the state will be infected by the new variant sooner or later. Under these circumstances, the unvaccinated will infect others. Hence, people should be more careful and get themselves vaccinated as soon as possible,” he said.