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World Health Organization (WHO) chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan observed that Covid-19 could enter a phase of endemicity where transmission of the virus is low or moderate.
The endemic stage means that the population is learning to live with a virus. It is very different from the epidemic stage where the virus invades a population.
Speaking about the clearance of Covaxin, Dr Swaminathan said she was quite confident that the WHO technical group would grant Covaxin clearance to be one of its licensed vaccines and that could happen as soon as possible. ‘by mid-September.
“Bharat Biotech, maker of Covaxin, submitted their data during the third week of July, which was the first dataset, and then an updated dataset arrived in mid-August. The committee returned to the business with a few questions which they must be answering now. I think the technical advisory group that will ultimately approve will meet in the first 10 days of September and so hopefully that will happen soon after, ”she said.
In an interview with journalist Karan Thapar for a news website, Dr Swaminathan said that given India’s size and the heterogeneity of the population and immune status in different parts of the country, it is “very very possible” that the situation could continue like this with ups and downs in various parts of the nation.
“We may be entering a kind of endemic stage where there is low level transmission or moderate level transmission going on, but we are not seeing the kinds of exponential growth and spikes that we have seen there. a few months ago, “she said.
“As far as India is concerned this seems to be what is happening and due to the size of India and the heterogeneity of the population and immune status in different parts of the country in different pockets it is very possible for the situation to continue like this with ups and downs in different parts of the country, especially where there is a more sensitive population, so the groups that may have been less affected by the first and second waves or areas with low levels of vaccine coverage could experience peaks and troughs over the next few months, “she said.
She hoped that by the end of 2022 “we would be in the position of having achieved vaccination coverage, say 70%, and then countries can return to normal.”
On the prevalence of Covid in children, she said parents don’t need to panic.
Regarding the use of drugs like Remdesivir, HCQ or Ivermectin used to treat Covid-19, she said at the moment, there is no evidence that HCQ or Ivermectin has any effect. role to play in reducing mortality or morbidity in infected people or in preventing catching infection
On the third wave, she said that no one had a “crystal ball” and that it was impossible to predict a third wave.
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