Vaccines that are being administered against Covid-19 currently are effective against the Delta variant as per the studies done by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said Dr N K Arora, co-chair, Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG).
Answering to a question on effectiveness of vaccine against the Delta variant, Dr Arora said, “Yes, the current vaccines are effective against Delta Variant as per the studies undertaken by ICMR on the issue.”
“Though there is a significant dip in the number of cases in most parts of the country, some regions are witnessing a high-Test Positivity Rate (TPR) particularly in the north-eastern parts of the country and several districts in the southern states, most of these cases could be due to the Delta variant,” he said.
Talking about the third wave of Covid-19, Dr Arora said the second wave is still going on and any future waves will be controlled and delayed if more and more people get vaccinated and most importantly, people follow COVID-appropriate behaviour effectively.
“A virus begins infecting a part of the population, which is most susceptible and also exposed to the infection. It diminishes after it successfully infects a large proportion of the population and strikes back when the immunity developed in the people post-natural infection fades. The cases may go up if a new, more infectious variant comes. In other words, the next wave will be driven by a virus variant to which a significant proportion of the population is susceptible,” Dr Arora said.
He also advised that people need to focus on vaccination and adherence to COVID appropriate behaviour to manage the pandemic.
India right now administers the Serum Institute of India’s Covishield, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Russian Sputnik V vaccine. The country started its Covid vaccination programme on January 16. The Union Health Ministry has informed that the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered under the nationwide vaccination drive has reached 40,64,81,493.
