“Vaccines are given to millions of people and any vaccine could have rare or adverse side effects,” opined Dr. Jude Jayamaha, Consultant Virologist at Medical Research Institute. “But these adverse side effects are reported one in a million. The nature of the COVID virus is such that even a natural infection may not have lasting immunity. In contrast, diseases such as hepatitis B, measles, and mumps have lasting immunity.”

“The booster dose is important because our body has a memory. As such there are some antibodies at an appreciable level. Therefore, if you get infected with Delta or Omicron variants the disease severity will be less. The primary aim of vaccinations is to prevent infections which leads to prevention of hospitalization, preventing pneumonia and ultimately preventing death. It has been reported that following vaccination drives, mortality rates have reduced,” he underscored. 

He further said that people need not worry and advised the public to get their vaccines accordingly. When asked if people will have to get more boosters to protect themselves against evolving variants, Dr. Jayamaha said that this claim too is a result of comparing COVID with other viral infections. “The Omicron variant is highly transmissible but hospitalization and deaths could be reduced if there’s a wider coverage of vaccine administration. We may get infected but as a whole the virus will not be transmitted if we are vaccinated.”