The beginning of the end of the pandemic?The answer lies in the speed with which everyone is vaccinated: Dr. Gangakedkar

PUNE Raman, a prominent health expert who is part of a team formed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to investigate the origin of pathogens such as Sars-CoV-2, hoping that this will be the beginning of a pandemic decline. Dr. Gangakedkar said the virus will chase unvaccinated and vulnerable populations. He also said that the answer to whether this is the end of a pandemic is how quickly everyone can be vaccinated against the virus.

He also said that people infected with the Omicron variant have mild symptoms, but the vast number based on how fast it spreads can strain the medical infrastructure.

Early in the roundtable with Pune Platform on Sunday’s Covid-19 Response Forum, Dr. Gangakhedkar said that based on the information available, people are speculating on the impact of the third wave in India in different ways. rice field. However, you need to be careful. He agreed with the view that patients suffering from the Omicron mutation have mild symptoms.

“Infected patients have lower hospitalization rates, but the numbers are so high that they can strain the medical infrastructure. In the third wave, the number of children suffering from Covid-19 may increase. As the demand for diagnostic services increases significantly, it is necessary to develop alternative diagnostic testing mechanisms to detect infections, rather than relying solely on genomic sequencing. “Mornupyravir” will only be an effective drug if the patient has a mild infection due to lack of sufficient data, “he said.

According to Dr. Gangakhedkar, the delayed start of vaccination allowed the citizens to immunize themselves. “But we need to accelerate the promotion of vaccination to ensure that everyone who is eligible to be vaccinated is vaccinated. Unless there is an unpleasant surprise from the ongoing waves in India and China. We hope we are near the end of the pandemic. Over the next month, the medical infrastructure will surely expand, “said the former Head of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases of the Indian Medical Research Council. I mentioned in.

Later in an interview with the Hindustan Times, Gangakedkar stated that the development of herd immunity against infectious diseases would take time, emphasizing promoting vaccination among people not taking jabs.

“In the process, many will suffer. If you seek innate immunity with a vaccine, instead of waiting for innate immunity (due to infection), it is good and the damage is minimized,” he says. I did.

According to Dr. Gangakhedkar, the virus is trying to infect the most in the community and the process continues to change. “While doing so, the virus shares a symbiotic relationship with humans, but you can’t wait until that moment and you have to be vaccinated,” he said.

When asked about the potential weakening of the virus at some point, he explained that the virus would come, they go naturally. When everyone in the community is infected, unlike the original form, the virus stabilizes and seeks to establish a symbiotic relationship.

When asked if the current stage could be explained as the beginning of the end of the pandemic, Dr. Gangakedkar said the answer was how quickly everyone could get the vaccine shield.

“There are a significant percentage of people who are eligible, but haven’t taken a second dose yet. Unless the scope of vaccination is dramatically improved, fear is always there. After this, one thing happens. The virus begins to look for unvaccinated, elderly, and immunocompromised people, “he said.

When asked why the number of cases is soaring despite high vaccination rates in the United Kingdom and the United States, Dr. Gangakedkar said the infection with Omicron was widespread, albeit less severe.

He said that Omicron virus has the ability to spread rapidly, according to previous studies. The virus may even evade vaccine immunity.

“In this situation, when the maximum number of people are infected, the virus will mutate more. The more likely it is to give to the virus, the more mutations will be produced. The pathogenic level of the virus will decrease. And given that such mutations are beneficial to humans because they naturally decline, it is better than vaccination and protection for everyone, “he said.