Need to Move Toward Next Generation of Covid Vaccines 

Given the end of the pandemic phase of Covid-19, the production of new coronavirus vaccines should come on the agenda, Hamidreza Jamaati, secretary of the science committee for Covid, stated on Sunday. 
“We hope that vaccine manufacturers will launch the production of the next generation of coronavirus vaccines in the not too distant future,” Jamaati was quoted as saying by IRNA. 
The official added that in spite of the need to move toward new vaccines, certain groups in society are encouraged to receive currently available booster shots to build immunity against the dangerous virus. 
The elderly, those with pre-existing health conditions and the immunocompromised who are more than six years old are recommended to administer booster doses. 
According to Jamaati, a large-scale study into the effects of Covid-19 vaccination had proven its efficacy once again. 
“A national study was carried out on 24,000 patients hospitalized in intensive care units,” Jamaati said, adding, “It turned out that three Covid shots can significantly reduce hospitalization and deaths in ICUs.”
His official recommendation was for ordinary people to get three doses and for vulnerable groups to receive booster shots to keep safe from the coronavirus. 
Worldwide vaccine producers are tracking the changes in coronavirus subvariants to utilize state-of-the-art technologies to manufacture more effective Covid vaccines.

Dominant Strain 

Jamaati said that screening done by the Pasteur Institute of Iran had revealed that the dominant strain in Iran was currently Omicron subvariant XBB.1.9.1. 
The subvariant has been identified in 63 countries across six continents and early evaluations suggest that it does not differ from the original Omicron in severity or disease manifestation. 
A number of Omicron offshoots have been largely responsible for the recent spike in Covid cases and hospitalizations. 
Jamaati noted, “In the past three to four days, we’ve witnessed a decline in infection rates and mortalities. The downward trend seems to be lasting.”
On Sunday, the Health Ministry reported 606 new coronavirus cases and 29 fatalities, which shows a sharp drop in daily tallies compared to a week ago.
The ministry on Saturday also registered a decline in the number of cities color-coded as red from the previous 18 to 12. 
Following the end of the two-week-long New Year holidays known as Norouz, social gatherings are expected to fall in numbers, which can prevent another peak in the near future.