Rajasthan starts sero survey to evaluate need of booster dose

Jaipur, Dec 15 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Rajasthan government has started a sero survey to assess whether the health care and front line workers need a booster dose amid the challenging times when the fear of Omicron variant of the coronavirus is growing as the number of patients infected by the new variant rises in India.

In Rajasthan, so far, 17 patients of Omicron have been reported while reports of many suspected patients are yet to come.

Health officials said that this survey is being conducted in 14 districts of the state. "We have got blood samples from most of the districts and will start testing them soon. It may take up to a month for the report of the entire survey to come out. These sero surveys are being conducted in all divisional headquarter districts and in 7 other districts," they said.

In this survey, antibodies will be tested in more than 17,000 people.

As per health officials, "This survey will be conducted on 17,000 people. In this survey, doctors, nurses, paramedical staff and the entire staff working in the hospital, besides ordinary people, have been included. The immunity level of people will be known through this survey."

Jaipur CMHO Narottam Sharma said, "A total of 1,400 samples have been taken from Jaipur in the first round. Overall, three round surveys will be done and reports will be evaluated in terms of anti-bodies."

With the report of this survey, the government can prepare a strategy for booster dose.

Antibodies were found in 76 per cent of the people in the sero survey done by the ICMR in Rajasthan in June-July on a total of 1,226 people from selected cities.

Source: IANS