Top Thai virologist explains why we still need Covid-19 jabs
Even though most of the current Covid-19 vaccines provide little protection from the highly-transmissible Omicron variant, it is still necessary to get the jabs, expert virologist Dr Yong Poovorawan said on Thursday.
“The Omicron variant has a shorter incubation period. When a human body is exposed to the virus, it cannot build up its immunity in time despite being vaccinated, which eventually leads to infection,” the virologist from Chulalongkorn University said in a Facebook post on Thursday.
“However, Omicron has a mutation in its spikes that stop it from fully evading the body’s immunity,” Dr Yong pointed out. “This means a vaccine can help build immunity over time and prevent the infection from becoming severe, hence significantly reducing hospitalisation and fatalities.
“To fight against Omicron, people must get booster shots at the right time to keep their immunity at a high level and mitigate symptoms in case of infection,” Yong said.
