COVID19 Update: Not only herd immunity in India, the government also rejected the speculation of community transmission.
The Union Health Ministry has dismissed speculation of herd immunity in the country amid growing cases of corona infection. Rajesh Bhushan, OSD of the Union Health Ministry, made it clear on Thursday that herd immunity may not be a strategic option given India’s population. Herd immunity is far away and a large country like India is not in a position to get it without the vaccine.
According to the Union Ministry of Health, testing is the only way to prevent corona infection before the vaccine.
Not only this, but the ministry also denied the possibility of Corona’s community transmission coming into the country. The Ministry has appealed to the people to follow proper conduct in this regard until the coronavirus vaccine is made.
When Rajesh Bhushan was asked if herd immunity is developing against coronavirus infection in India, he replied that mass immunity is a way of indirect protection against infectious diseases like COVID19.
According to Rajesh Bhushan, herd immunity is a condition when the immunity of the virus develops in most people in a society. This can happen in two ways. One is that with the spread of the virus, this immunity develops in people and the other way is to develop it through vaccines.
Rajesh Bhushan said that in a country with a population of 138 crores like India, without vaccines, naturally, it is impossible to allow the majority of people to become immune.
He said that there would be a huge price to pay for herd immunity. A large number of people will be ill from Corona and it will not be possible to arrange for them in hospitals. He said that this will ruin the entire health infrastructure in the country. We cannot even think of herd immunity.
According to Rajesh Bhushan, in some places like Delhi and Mumbai, it would not be right to talk about herd immunity based on the lack of new corona cases. There is also a large number of testing reasons for the lack of new cases.
Rajesh Bhushan said that only the US-based Moderna vaccine, Britain’s Oxford University vaccine, and a Chinese vaccine third phase of human trials are going on. In addition, 24 vaccines are in the first and second phases of the human trial, which includes two vaccines from India. There are 141 vaccines in the pre-clinical trial stage. Apart from this, many of the world’s vaccine manufacturers are entering into agreements with Indian companies due to the maximum vaccine production capacity in India. He said that negotiations are on with companies to ensure adequate and accessible availability of vaccines in the country.