A study by the ICMR says that the third wave of the Covid-19 will come late in the country, informed Dr Arora.
“We have a window period of 6 to 8 months to vaccinate everybody in the country,” he further added, saying that the centre's future target is to conduct one crore Covid vaccine doses every day in India.
Throwing light on the fresh threats arising out front from the Delta Plus variant of Covid-19 that has created panic across the country, Dr Arora said that it cannot be yet connected to a third wave of the pandemic.
However, maintaining that variants are linked to new waves this possibility cannot be ruled out. He said waves are associated with new strains or new mutations, so there is a chance as this is a new variant, but whether it will cause a third wave cannot be said because it will depend upon two or three things, Arora said.
Need to more research
He said, “We need more research to have concrete results to augment our medical system for such patients. We have to understand that the emergence of new variant sizes, not new things, variants will come with subsequent waves. What is more important to understand is the nature of the new variant, because its nature (transmission, effectiveness, etc) decides the overall situation of the Covid pandemic."
The union health ministry report said that the Delta Plus variant cases were detected in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.
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Further elaborating more on the Delta Plus, Dr Arora said there are three parameters to assess the effectiveness of a new variant — level of transmission; how it will affect the pandemic; and how it will respond to vaccines.
Each strain of Coronavirus identified so far has been highly contagious; however, effectiveness was very low, Arora said.
Explaining any virus that has more impact on pandemics and causes more casualties dies soon, Dr Arora said
“This is the natural fact that if a particular variant causes more deaths, then there is more possibility that it will end on its own. Because, it is a fight between the virus and the person and if the person died because of that particular virus, it cannot spread to other people and it will end on its own,” he explained.
Covid first wave in India began in late January 2020 with the peak reaching in mid-September. The first wave was relatively mild compared to the second wave of the pandemic that had devastating effects that started in mid-February 2021.
Zydus Cadila doses for kids possible by July-end
The Centre’s Covid working group Chairman Dr NK Arora on Sunday said that the Zydus Cadila vaccine for children might be available by the end of July or in August.
He informed that the trial is at its completion stage and the centre will be able to start administering this vaccine to children between the age group of 12-18 by the end of July.
"Trial for the Zydus Cadila vaccine is almost complete. By July end or in August, we might be able to start administering this vaccine to children of 12-18 age group,” said Arora.
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The firm will possibly apply for emergency use authorisation for its vaccine ZyCoV-D, which it claims can be given to both adults and children.