Vaccinate all above 20 years in hotspots to contain Covid-19 second wave, says virologist Dr T Jacob John

The country on Friday saw 59,118 new Covid-19 infections in a day, the highest single-day rise so far this year

With health officials detecting new variants of the novel coronavirus in the country amid the second wave of Covid-19, Dr T Jacob John, retired professor and head, departments of clinical virology and microbiology, Christian Medical College (Vellore), and former director of ICMR’s Centre of Advanced Research in Virology, said that the best way to contain the spread was the "vaccination of all persons above an arbitrary age of 20 years in the hotspots of transmission and self-quarantine instructions for those with any symptoms likely to be Covid-19 - even the mildest."

The country saw 59,118 new Covid-19 infections in a day, the highest single-day rise so far this year, according to Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

"What we see is that there is hardly any discipline by people or enforcement by authorities," Dr John said.

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He suspected that two things had ignited the spike in cases. "One, the lowering of guard by people with impunity and the government in a mood not to push - considering festivals (Kumbh Mela) and impending elections - with rallies and crowd collections," he said. "Two, many mutant viruses that have higher transmission efficiency were in the making but only this week they were looked for."

"The best way is to ensure the well-known prevention of infection, which is universal mask-wearing and with masks, physical distancing relaxed to three feet or even two feet," he explained. "No indoor activities with crowds and air conditioning and hand hygiene after touching surfaces/objects on which droplets of others might have fallen."

The Centre, on Tuesday, had announced that starting from April 1, people above 45 years old would be able to receive the vaccines against Covid-19.

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Dr John said, however, that "the age 45 does not make sense if infection control is the objective. The opening up of vaccinations for those above 45 is to start from April 1. That will not help in reducing the current speed of spread."

No breather for health workers

Meanwhile, medical professionals are back to combating the second wave after a year without respite. "The beginning of the first wave was difficult because of the novelty of the disease, the unpreparedness, the lack of research on treatment strategies and prognosis, panic and of course, shortage of PPE," said Dr Mansi Khanderia, a Bengaluru-based medical oncologist.

"With the second wave, even though we are prepared strategically and logistically, we are mentally and physically exhausted as it's been a year of relentless efforts with no 'breather' for the medical fraternity," she said.

"The vaccine drive is certainly reassuring as we expect to see less severe forms of the disease but people refusing to pull up their masks or behave responsibly is adversely affecting our morale. As they say 'the second blow makes the fray'," she added.

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Compounding the problem is the vaccine hesitancy among the population and the self-imposed delay in getting inoculated. "We have a robust universal immunisation programme for children and all vaccines have expected reactions and few adverse events. Never before has any clinical trial received so much interest and misinterpretation by people who aren’t trained in medical biostatistics," explained Dr Mansi.

"The misinformation on WhatsApp and social media and the political interference to interpret science are responsible for the hesitancy," she said.

Dr Mansi explained that people expected vaccine to be a weapon against masks instead of the virus. "We need to understand, vaccines have just joined as the chief weapon in the war against Covid-19 but masks, hand-washing and social distancing continue to be our primary weapons in this battle. People need to understand that even if they do get infected with Covid-19, they are less likely to die because of severe disease if they have been vaccinated," she added.