A severe third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is unlikely to occur in India, said Dr. Randeep Guleria, Director of AlIMS-Delhi. He added that booster doses of vaccine are not needed in India, adding the focus should be on increasing vaccination coverage.
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India has already seen two waves of the pandemic, the second of which occurred earlier this year & claimed the lives of tens of thousands. Experts have maintained that a high sero-positivity & a significant vaccination coverage will help control the severity of any fresh wave.
"As our vaccination program is moving forward, as we are seeing low vaccine hesitancy, and as we are seeing the vaccines are holding out - in terms of preventing severe disease & ... death - the chance of any huge wave is declining with each passing day," Dr. Guleria said.
"The vaccines are holding up, we are not seeing breakthrough infections causing a surge in our admissions, our sero-positivity rate is very high. All of these suggest that as of now, we really don't need a booster dose," Dr. Guleria said on Tuesday evening.
India has so far remained non-committal on the issue of booster doses. Several countries, including the United States and United Kingdom, have started administering additional shots as research suggests immunity wanes over time.
Since beginning its vaccination program in January, India has administered more than 118 crore doses. Some 81% of the country's adults have received at least one vaccine dose while 43% have taken both the doses.
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