Bhubaneswar: Vaccination centres across the country are most likely to aggravate Covid infection rates if people continue to flout the safety protocol while waiting for the jabs, opined experts.
Participating in a webinar organised by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar, Sanjay Rai from the Community Medicine Department of AIIMS, New Delhi, said that the worrisome trend of people contracting the infection at vaccination centres came to the fore recently.
“We have found that many people, who had gone to the vaccination centres to get the jabs, contracted the disease. People often flout the Covid safety protocol at the vaccination centres, thereby increasing the chances of getting infected with the deadly virus,” he said. Rai even suggested that the vaccination drive should be suspended temporarily in the wake of the recent surge in the positive cases. Now, more focus should be on the treatment of people who have contracted the disease, he added. The community medicine expert also said that the Covid cases will continue to go up in the coming days. “The worst scenario is yet to come. So, the government resources need to be diverted towards the treatment of the infected persons. The vaccines are of little use to protect us from the second wave but they may help us to counter the third wave or any successive waves in future,” he opined.
The expert also claimed that the mutations in the virus have led to a surge in infection rate.
“In the second wave, the UK strain, Brazil strain and South African strain proved to be more infectious. India’s double mutant strain was also more infectious. Many of the strains invaded the immunity garnered in the previously infected persons or in persons who were vaccinated,” Rai said.
While two Indian vaccines are in use in the country, around six more are in the clinical trial phase. These new vaccines could be rolled out after getting the necessary clearance.
