New Delhi: Dr NK Arora, Chairman of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) Covid-19 Working Group, has said that on an average around 30,000 to 45,000 daily cases are being reported for the past several weeks and have been linked to the appropriate treatment of COVID-19. Extremely necessary and important, especially with the upcoming festive season.
Dr Arora said 30 per cent of people still contract the infection, and they can become infected at any time, especially if they are still unvaccinated.
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The chairman of NTAGI’s Covid-19 working group said daily cases mostly come from Kerala, several north-eastern states, some districts of Maharashtra and some southern states.
“On an average around 30,000 – 45000 daily cases are being reported in our country for the last several weeks. It is mostly reported from specific geographical areas, especially Kerala, several north eastern states and some districts of Maharashtra and some other southern states,” Dr Arora told DD News on whether there would be a third wave of Covid-19 in India .
“If we follow the genomic analysis of the SARS-COV-2 virus that circulated during June, July and August, no new variants have emerged and based on the sero-survey conducted during July, the ongoing COVID cases represent susceptible individuals who are not yet immunized; They are affected as part of the last phase of the second wave,” he said.
Dr Arora said that in July’s sero-survey, 66 to 70 percent people were found infected.
“So the cost of any complacency on the part of any of us across the country would be enormous because 30% of people could be infected and many of them could develop serious illness and rarely be fatal, as That we saw during April and May 2021,” he added.
The chairman of NTAGI’s COVID-19 working group said that the emergence of new mutations around this time could also be a reason for the arrival of the third wave.
Responding to how effective the country’s COVID vaccine is against the delta variant and what needs to be done to prevent the third wave, Dr Arora said, “The effectiveness values we see in the media are mostly against symptomatic disease. effectiveness” and added “it is generally 60-90% for different vaccines.”
“The effectiveness of COVID vaccines can be explained in the following way: effectiveness in prevention of infection and thus the spread of the virus, effectiveness to prevent symptomatic disease, effectiveness to protect against serious illness or death,” he said.
Dr Arora further said that most of the vaccines are not sufficiently effective in preventing COVID infection, therefore, it is repeatedly emphasized that a person can spread COVID infection even after vaccination and there is a need to maintain proper COVID treatment. it occurs.
Dr Arora highlighted the most important value of COVID-19 vaccines, their effectiveness in preventing serious disease, the need for hospitalization and death.
“All vaccines currently available in India and elsewhere are more than 90-95% effective in protecting the beneficiary from serious illness and death. This is true for all types, including the delta virus. Most of the infections occurring in India today are due to delta virus,” he said.
Explaining the reasons behind the ICMR’s withdrawal of plasma therapy as part of the treatment guidelines for severe COVID-19 infections, Dr Arora said that if one is infected then his body will produce antibodies with cell based immunity.
“Antibodies are measurable and can also be called visible immunity. Cell-based immunity can also be termed as invisible immunity and as important as antibodies. These immune components prevent disease and severity when such a person is exposed to COVID-19. Along with it, there is a re-infection,” he said.
Dr Arora said that an antibody mixture was recently introduced in the market by a company, but it did not yield much.
“This antibody mixture was also based on the principle of plasma therapy. It was observed that if plasma or antibodies are given to the patient in the first week or early stages of infection, there may be some benefit.
Dr Arora said that a recently published paper has mentioned that if someone has got natural covid infection and is cured, then that person’s immunity will protect him for a long period, if such person also If one receives the vaccine, “the person has a double barrel of protection against infection and disease”.
Asked whether people need a booster dose of the vaccine, Dr Arora said, “The need for a booster dose in our country cannot be decided on the basis of the situation in the western countries and the decisions taken”.
“Local evidence based on studies done in different parts of the country will guide the need of our people. This will be considered in the context when 70% to 80% of the population in our country is already infected,” said Dr. Arora.
“A thoughtful decision will be made based on the best available scientific evidence with the overall objective of providing optimal protection to our people,” he said.
Dr Arora further said that the response of young individuals to any vaccine including COVID-19 vaccines is strongest and the vaccines show maximum effectiveness.
“Advanced age and the presence of co-morbidities may reduce the effectiveness of the vaccine. For this reason, the elderly i.e. people above 60 years of age are included during the initial trial. Fortunately, Covid-19 vaccines work almost the same in everyone,” he said, adding that the efficacy of the vaccine and the limitations of a person’s body should be looked at hand-in-hand or looked at differently and whether the infection is transmitted through a person’s body. The efficacy of the vaccine is the same for everyone, depending on the limitations of the vaccine.
These are important issues to shed light on as “the risk of disease severity and death in the elderly and those with co-morbidities is approximately 20-25 times higher than in younger individuals and those without any co-morbidities”, Dr Arora said. That it was based on coming up with a vaccine priority list of vaccine recipients.
“There are disease conditions that severely affect the body’s immune system, eg, cancer patients on treatment, health conditions requiring steroids. The protective response to vaccines in such individuals may be inadequate and they may Another dose of vaccine or booster dose may be required,” said Dr Arora.
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He said, NTAGI will consider these issues while deciding the need for booster doses of COVID vaccines.
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