NewDelhi July 21 : The Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR) recommends the opening of primary schools first as they believe children can handle viral infection much better. However, staff and teachers must be vaccinated, ICMR said at a health ministry briefing on July 20.
“We know clearly that children can handle viral infections much better than adults. Antibody exposure is also similar in children as adults. Some Scandinavian countries didn’t shut their primary schools in any COVID waves”, said Dr Balram Bhargava, ICMR Director-General.
Findings of ICMR’s fourth national serosurvey was also released that showed around 40 crore people are still vulnerable to COVID-19 infection, while two-thirds of the country’s population aged above six have SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.
The findings show there is a ray of hope, but there is no room for complacency and Covid-appropriate behaviour has to be followed, the government said.
ICMR conducted the latest survey in June-July. Addressing a press conference, a senior official said two-thirds or 67.6 per cent of India’s population aged above 6 years were found to have SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the latest national serosurvey.
How does a vaccine work?
A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.
How many types of vaccines are there?
There are broadly four types of vaccine – one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.
What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?
Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.
A third of the population did not have SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, which means about 40 crore people are still vulnerable to COVID-19 infection, the official said. According to the government, 85 per cent of the surveyed healthcare workers had antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 and one-tenth of HCWs were still unvaccinated.
Stressing observance of COVID-19-appropriate behaviour, the government said social, religious and political congregations should be avoided and non-essential travels should be discouraged. “Travel only if fully vaccinated,” it said.
“We need to ensure full vaccination of all healthcare workers at the earliest &need to accelerate vaccination in vulnerable groups”, reiterated the ICMR DG.
India recorded 30,093 new coronavirus infections, the lowest in 125 days, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,11,74,322, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on July 20. The death toll climbed to 4,14,482 with 374 daily fatalities, the lowest in 111 days, while the active cases have declined to 4,06,130, the lowest in 117 days.