Amid concern over Omicron, Serum Institute of India (SII) head Adar Poonawalla took to his social media account and shared a meme video urging people to take booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine. The video also showcased how a COVID-19 booster vaccine shot can defeat the new variant of coronavirus.
Created by United States-based Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the video displays a clip from the hit movie Home Alone that was released in 1990. The video emphasises the usefulness of the COVID-19 vaccine against the new virus variants.
In the video, the character Kevin McCallister from the movie can be seen guarding himself and his house against two masked men who are referred to as ‘Delta’ and ‘Omicron’ variants of COVID-19. The video continues to show the small boy trying to fight one of the two men (Delta) by throwing a bucket (that is marked as a vaccine). When the other man (Omicron) rushes towards the boy, he defeats him by using another bucket (marked as a booster dose of the vaccine).
Watch the video here
“What’s going on here!?” Poonawalla wrote while sharing the video.
What’s going on here!?
Video Credit: @JohnsHopkinsSPH pic.twitter.com/ya31qoxdEW
— Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) December 22, 2021
Since being shared on 22 December, the video has so far garnered over 14 lakh views and it’s increasing. A few people on social media appreciated Poonawalla for raising awareness about the booster while others criticised and mocked him on his marketing strategy.
Additionally, Poonawalla tweeted about the new booster shot after the World Health Organisation (WHO) has informed about the same. Earlier this week, WHO stated that the introduction of booster shots should be targeted at population groups that are at the highest risk, especially healthcare and frontline workers.
Meanwhile, Dr VK Paul, Member-Health, Niti Aayog asserted that the need, timing, and the nature of boosting will be based on scientific decisions and thinking in the country.
So far, the country has recorded 236 cases of Omicron across 16 states and UTs. Out of which, 104 people have recovered, according to the Union Health Ministry.
Currently, the total count of coronavirus cases stands at 3,47,65,976, while India recorded 7,495 fresh infections with active cases shooting up to 78,291.