There is a case for giving a booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to children as an extra level of protection against a new sub-variant of Omicron, according to immunology expert Professor Kingston Mills.
It comes as the Minister for Health announced a booster dose is to be offered to children aged 12-15 in Ireland.
Prof Mills told RTÉ radio’s Today programme that the new BA2 sub-variant of Omicron was already the dominant variant in Denmark and the Netherlands, and was likely to become the dominant variant in Ireland in the coming days.
The new sub-variant is one and a half times easier to catch than the BA1 sub-variant of Omicron, he explained, and immunity from having had BA1 would not be a great protection against BA2.
Being vaccinated gave a good level of protection, but the booster was needed to give more protection, he said.
Severity
The data to date suggested that the BA2 sub-variant would not mean an increase in hospitalisations and could be treated in the same way as the original Omicron variant, Prof Mills said.
The good news was that Covid seemed to have “lost its punch” because of the levels of vaccination and infection, he added.
It comes as some experts have called for BA2, which is up to 50 per cent more contagious than Omicron, to be designated as a separate variant of concern.
New research suggests BA2 may cause more severe disease and is more effective in evading some of the existing protections against Covid-19, according to The Irish Times.
The study from Japan, which has not been peer-reviewed, found it may be as capable of causing serious illness as previous variants such as Delta. As well as evading vaccine immunity, it is resistant to some treatments such as the monoclonal antibody sotrovimab, according to the lab study.
Last week, chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said that 40 per cent of new Covid-19 cases in Ireland were believed to involve the more transmissible and possibly more severe sub-variant.
It is already dominant in Northern Ireland, according to data published this week by UK public health authorities.
