As Brazil, US and several other countries have announced third vaccine shots, AIIMS chief Randeep Guleria has said that “the idea of booster doses can wait” and India should at the moment focus on vaccinating as many people as possible to curb the spread of Covid-19.
“I think we should focus on vaccinating those who have not been vaccinated till now, especially the high-risk group. Still many healthcare workers, many elderly and those with comorbidities have not been vaccinated, and they are the ones who have a chance of having more severe disease and dying because of Covid-19,” Guleria was quoted as saying by ANI.
The top doctor’s suggestion comes days after WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on countries to delay giving out booster shots. The World Health Organization previously argued against giving out follow-up doses while some countries continue to struggle vaccinating their population in the first place.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top leaders of the country have repeatedly urged people to get vaccinated as soon as possible, as Centre has been pushing to meet its December deadline of jabbing all adults.
According to a report in Times of India, the country needs to average almost one crore doses per day till the end of the year to reach the target. To do this, it will have to nearly double the daily average it achieved in the best week so far — just under 59 lakh per day from June 19 to 25, the report stated.
It further said that the burden will be heavier on states such as West Bengal, Bihar, UP, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, where the average needed for the rest of the year is about double what was achieved in the best week or even more. Worryingly, that’s a list that includes the four most populous states in the country.
Guleria also suggested to increase investment in research for antivirals or drugs that can be used in treatment against Covid-19. “We are still using a lot of repurposed drugs rather than any specific antiviral for Covid-19. And unfortunately, a lot of investment went into vaccine development but we didn’t really invest that much into research for antivirals or a drug which could have been effective against the virus,” he was quoted by Indian Express.
He further said, “I really think that we need to push more in research in developing good antiviral drug; along with the vaccine, we need to have good drugs which are effective, which can be given easily to patients and are useful in the long run. We don’t have such a drug as of now.”
The AIIMS chief further said that Sero Survey suggested that there may not be as many coronavirus cases in a likely third Covid wave if vaccinations continue in strength. Till now the country has administered over 60 crore Covid-19 vaccines.
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