Covid-19 pandemic impact: Need to step up vaccination drive on a war footing, says Expert

New Delhi, Apr 27: Amid an unprecedented coronavirus situation in the country, J Ravindran, an advocate organised a webiner on "Impact of COVID Second Wave" to seek health expert' views on the subsequent waves of the pandemic.

The expert who participated in the panel discussion speculated that there will be a third wave of Covid-19 virus (SARS-CoV-2) in the country and the second wave will fizzle out sooner by the year end. He also stressed that the vaccination is needed to help in combating second wave. Vaccines are the very pathogens against which one needs protection.

Dr. V Ramasubramanian, Infectious Diseases Specialist, Apollo Hospital, said, we're not just fighting an epidemic; we're fighting an infodemic, referring to fake news that "spreads faster and more easily than this virus." They can spread misinformation, disinformation and rumours during a health emergency. He explains that Infodemics can hamper an effective public health response and create confusion and distrust among people.

He further said that when there is an unprecedented surge of infection, people behave responsibly and there was a sense that the country had reached some level of herd immunity. That's one reason why the infection rate comes down. Now during the second wave, whenever there is a surge, there is continuous, testing, tracking, and tracing for containing the infection thats why Dr. Ramasubramanian beleive there is surge in the number of cases.

''In fact, the primary reason for the fresh wave is that gyms, wedding venues, hotels, swimming pools, travel and even schools, everything were opened up this year and Covid precautions were discarded. People were understandably eager to be able to go out, dropped masks, shunned social distancing, and such complacency allowed infectious diseases to thrive,'' Dr. Ramasubramanian says.

The doctor also advised people to widely use rule of staying 6 feet away from others and also wearing a mask to affect the risk of exposure to COVID-19 in indoor spaces.

He also said that the other variables - like the number of people in a space, what they are doing, and the level of ventilation - were much more important.

But then, over time, as people's immunity waned, more contagious variants came along and sparked another surge called the second wave.

Dr Ramasubramanian said, one of the new variants circulating in India referred to as the "double mutant'' which have been popping up from various parts of the country could be the factors behind such an unprecedented spike in cases. Of equal concern is the fact that the foreign variants, from the UK, South Africa and Brazil, which have also been found in India.

He further said,'' We are seeing a surge in several states, but it will not be as severe as first one and would be shorter and fizzle off sooner. He also forsee the third wave of Covid in October-November."

To a certain extent, vaccination will help us in combating the second wave."

In virtual address, Ramasubramanian, senior consultant said that the vaccines are important to contain the virus, and are scientifically proven.

How important is vaccination?

Vaccination is extremely important to cut the chain of transmission. The safety of the vaccines have been proved beyond doubt.

Tell us more about the vaccines. How safe and effective are they?

India has so far approved two vaccines against COVID-19 -- Covishield, manufactured by the SII, and the indigenously-developed Covaxin of Bharat Biotech.

Covaxin is an inactivated/attenuated vaccine, which was prepared on a tried-and-tested platform of dead viruses. This vaccine has been developed with the whole-virion inactivated vero cell-derived technology.

While, Covishield is a vector-based vaccine. It is not a whole virus, rather only a gene for producing spike proteins against which antibodies develop when injected in the body as a vaccine.

Covishield has been prepared using the viral vector platform, which is a totally different technology. A chimpanzee adenovirus - ChAdOx1 - was modified to enable it so that it can carry the Covid-19 spike protein into the cells of humans.

As far as the efficiency is concerned, Covishield, AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, which is manufactured by Serum in Pune, is 90 per cent effective provided there's a two-three month gap in jabs. The long gap you keep between the doses, the better their efficacy.

While India's homegrown Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin is concerned, the vaccine has shown 78% efficacy at preventing mild, moderate and severe coronavirus infections and working well against most variants.

Should persons infected and recovered get vaccinated?

Yes, everybody can take the vaccine, Dr. Ramasubramanian says.

Should I close my doors and windows?

According to Dr. Ramasubramanian, people should switch off air-conditioner and breath fresh air to reduce the chances of infection. The viruses have been identified as the most common cause of infectious diseases acquired within indoor environments. It is true that the air circulation in plane cabins are often better than other public transport.

Can a person get infected after vaccination?

Yes, he or she may be infected, but infection does not always mean that a person has the disease. Even after infection, some mild symptoms may appear, but usually, these may not aggravate to the diseased condition leading to any fatality.

Does steam therapy help fight Covid-19?

It will not work as a cure for the virus, it could however, help ease respiratory symptoms.

Should I worry about the blood clot after taking vaccine? If you are a DVT patient?

No, need to worry about the blood clots.