Children most vulnerable in third wave of Covid-19, vaccinate parents quickly: Narayana Health founder

As children stay with their families in most cases, their exposure to the virus can be reduced by fully vaccinating both parents

Dr Devi Shetty, cardiac surgeon and chairman and founder of Narayana Health, has chalked out a preparation plan for the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in India, which is expected to affect children the most.

The first wave of the pandemic in India mostly affected those above 60 years of age. The second wave affected the younger generation. Now that most adults are either infected or vaccinated, it is expected that children may be at risk in the third wave.

There are 165 million children in the country who are less than 12 years old. Dr Shetty, in a Times Of India blog, laid an example: if 20 per cent of the children get infected and 5 per cent of them need critical care, then India needs 1.65 lakh paediatric ICU beds. Currently, we have a total of 90,000 ICU beds for adults and less than 2,000 beds for kids.

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“We don’t have enough pediatric Covid care wards and intensive care units for children. This has to be urgently scaled up,” Dr Ravi, a virologist from Nimhans Bengaluru, said in a statement. Experts expect the third wave to take place between October and December and have advised the government to stay prepared.

How can we avoid this situation?

As the children stay with their families in most cases, their exposure to the virus can be reduced by fully vaccinating both parents. That means 300 million young parents in India need to be vaccinated quickly in the next few months.

Dr Shetty suggested that the government should reduce the price of the vaccines as there are more options available to the country. This will help in making vaccines available to the masses who otherwise can’t afford it. He further mentioned that 70 per cent of the vaccines should be distributed in private hospitals and 30 per cent in public ones because private hospitals can provide services 24*7.

Learning from the previous waves, the production of drugs like crocin syrup and disposables used for children in ICU and procurement of large ventilators should start immediately.