Dr Asangba Tzudir
Even as India grapples with the second wave of Covid-19 and really struggling on all fronts, experts are already calling for preparations in the face of a possible third wave in the later part of the year. Top advisors of the central government have even said that a third wave is "inevitable".
Some experts have also warned children would be affected by the third wave. Currently, Maharashtra is the worst state in the country, and the recent reports of over 8,000 children being infected with the virus in the state’s Ahmednagar has triggered alarm bells. Though the number is quite alarming, looking at the overall number of infections, the number of children infected accounted for 10 percent of the positive cases in the district.
It has raised questions about how to deal with it if children are affected on a large scale. The B.1.617 variant is said to be behind the devastating second wave of Covid in India, which has affected more children than in the first wave. This time, India has reported children as young as newborns being infected with the virus, something that was rarely heard of during the first wave. This has led to health experts giving warning that the third wave will likely affect children as has been already reported in Singapore.
However, AIIMS Director Dr. Randeep Guleria has recently said, while it has been said that children will be infected the most during the third wave, the Pediatrics Association has said that this is “not based on facts.” According to them it is unlikely that the third wave will affect children predominantly or exclusively. Squarely, however, the question being, on what basis is their claim that the third wave will not affect children if facts are not there to attest?
Contrary, they have admitted that, a very small percentage of children may develop severe infection which is attested by the fact that number of children with Covid-19 needing hospitalization and intensive care has significantly gone up. Thus, the general speculation is that a proportionately higher number of children will be infected is not without basis. Yet, time is still premature to say that Covid-19 cases will explode in children.
However, it is not the case that anything less than an explosion of cases among children should be considered normal and thus calls for due caution, and preparatory measures should not be taken at the earliest. To this end, some doctors have opined that the government must consider vaccinating children. This undoubtedly paves the way for an immediate vaccination programme for children and adolescents in India. While most countries across the world are still in the process of vaccinating its adults, several other countries have begun vaccinating children. The US has already administered Covid-19 vaccinations to around 600,000 children aged 12 to 15 after regulators cleared Pfizer Inc’s BioNTech shots for use in that age group.
A decision on the children needs to be taken at the earliest because the certainties and uncertainties of the Covid-19 pandemic satiation and the nature of the corona virus is such that the hope should be for the best while at the same time preparing for the worst. If not, the third will lead to the fourth and so on.
(Dr Asangba Tzudir writes a weekly guest editorial for The Morung Express. Comments can be mailed to asangtz@gmail.com)
