Johns Hopkins scientists say no one is safe until everything is vaccinated with COVID-19

Vaccine inequality remains a problem both in India, where less than 2% of the population receives Covid boosters, and in a world where 56 countries cannot receive as much as 10%, Johns Hopkins scientist Amitagputa said. I am saying.

A professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, head of the infectious disease department, is important to track hospitalization rates, which are indicators of disease severity, and who is safe from Covid until everyone in the world is infected. He emphasized that he did not. Vaccination.

She upheld her claim, citing an example of a variant of Omicron.

Highly infectious variants are believed to have emerged in South Africa and Botswana last November due to poor immunity in African countries, according to Gupta, and other variants could follow the same trend. He added that it was highly sexual.

“Global vaccination inequity remains a problem both in India and around the world. For example, less than 20% of the population is currently vaccinated on the African continent, and Africa is still. Some countries are vaccinated with less than 2%, “Gupta said. PTI in an email interview.

She said it will be more important than ever for the community to be fully vaccinated and strengthened as immunity weakens and new Covid variants emerge.

“It’s not enough to vaccinate only a few countries completely. To stop a pandemic, we need to vaccinate health workers and the highest-risk populations in all countries,” she adds. I did.

In India, there are some areas that are difficult to reach, and there is an urgent need to increase boosters for qualified people, Gupta said.

“It is difficult to predict whether further mutations in SARS-CoV-2 will increase or decrease the inherent pathogenicity of the virus or the severity it causes,” public health experts said.

“What we know is that no one is safe from COVID-19 until everyone in the world is safe. The majority of vaccines are given in high and middle income countries56. Countries are effectively excluded. They come from the global vaccine market and have not been vaccinated by 10% of the population, “she added.

Large, densely populated countries such as India need to ensure that their populations receive some protection against severe illness, either through immunization or previous infections.

As immunity weakens and mutants emerge, Gupta said it is more important than ever for the community to be fully vaccinated and strengthened.

“Currently, less than 2% of the (Indian) population receives Covid boosters, even though there is no supply shortage. We need to increase this number.”

According to the Union Ministry of Health, the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccines given in India exceeded Rs. 18.7 billion on Wednesday. The total number of prophylaxis given to adults is 2,35,786 (Rs 23,000).

In the future, Gupta expects to increase regularly for new, more contagious variants. Tracking hospitalization rates is extremely important.

In some countries, such as the United Kingdom, the number of cases has increased locally, but hospitalizations have not increased significantly and the healthcare system is managing the increase.

“We anticipate a similar situation in India with these current subvariants. India may face another surge, but people are more aware, systems are strengthened and monitoring is in progress. Being inside, we are better prepared, “she added.

According to Gupta, the pandemic is not over yet, and it is difficult to predict when new variants will emerge and how these strains will behave.

“We need to continue close monitoring to detect Covid cases early through our existing surveillance network in the country, masking in the event of a surge, and be prepared to trigger recommendations for resuming social distance. There is, “she said.

According to the World Health Organization, BA.2, a more contagious variant of Omicron, is currently causing most cases of coronavirus in the world.

Gupta said the new variant is more infectious than the previous variant and an increase in cases has been observed.

“Vaccines continue to protect against the symptoms of serious illness. Future morbidity and mortality depend on age group, fatigue with guidelines, and intake of vaccines and boosters,” she said.

“Global vaccination and accurate disease surveillance will reduce infection rates. In India, as of April 13, 73% received the first vaccination, 61% received the second vaccination, and 1.7% received the booster vaccination. We continue to encourage the rest of the population to be vaccinated. Vaccination is important, “Gupta explained.

Studies have shown that current Covid vaccines are somewhat less effective at protecting people from infection and from developing serious illnesses from Omicron and its submutants. ..

The vaccine Gupta emphasized still reduces the risk of serious illness in more than 50% of infected people.

“Many work is underway to prepare a new vaccine to optimize efficacy for additional new variants.”

Many experts in the past have stated that Covid in India is heading towards an epidemic where the presence of the disease is stable or at least predictable in certain areas.

“There are three possible futures: high disease with increased infection rates and ongoing peaks of viral evolution, seasonal epidemic COVID-19, and endemic COVID-19. We are still COVID. Is not in a place where it can be said to be endemic, “Gupta explained.
Her concerns are that India reported 2,451 new Covid infections and an increase in 54 deaths on Friday, with a national case count of 4,30,52,425 (more than 430 million rupees) and deaths of 5,22,116. It comes from having made it (more than 52,000 rupees). ).

For a future pandemic, Gupta said it was important to apply the lessons learned from Covid and invest in health infrastructure to better equip the country to prevent tragedy.

She said long-term investment and sustainable efforts are needed to strengthen India’s public health and health system, as well as biomedicine.

Scientists have pointed out that Johns Hopkins University has many different types of partnerships with India. These include working together to combat infectious diseases and identifying new diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive strategies for diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV, covid, dengue fever, pneumococcal pneumonia and hepatitis.

“India is an important partner in addressing global public health challenges and we learn a lot from each other in the health partnership between India and JHU,” said Gupta.

“We have low-cost, accessible and affordable technologies for improving public health and health training, health system enhancements, biomedical discoveries, clinical research, data science, and the health of communities and individuals around the world. We are cooperating with the model of development, “she added.

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