Taking boosters against Covid-19 may not be too helpful due to weak scientific evidence in favour of top-up shots, said leading biologist Shekhar Mande.
“The scientific evidence on the benefit of boosters is weak,” Mande told News18. According to the former director general of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), however, people with lower immunity or other medical conditions must check with their healthcare providers for guidance.
Now a distinguished professor at the bioinformatics centre of Savitribai Phule Pune University, Mande said the surge in Covid cases was due to “a slightly new variant”. “Our immunity might be waning, or it might be a vaccine breakthrough mutant. But nonetheless, we will not see as many hospitalisations or deaths as in previous waves.” He further said this surge was not going to be like the first, or even the devastating second (Delta) wave.
Mande, who holds a PhD in molecular biophysics from Indian Institute of Science (IISC) in Bengaluru, further said general precautions were the same and, irrespective of booster status, everyone must be guarded by using masks, social distancing, avoiding crowded places and maintaining proper ventilation inside houses.
He emphasised that the “strongest evidence” to date was related to building ventilation. “If sufficient fresh air circulation is maintained, the possibility of contracting the virus is reduced dramatically,” he added.
Fresh cases of Covid-19 are being detected across India, which recorded over 3,824 new infections over 24 hours ending on Sunday morning – this is the biggest jump in number of cases in 184 days. With this, the active caseload has gone up to 18,389, as per health ministry data released on Sunday.
India’s Covid tally stands at 4.47 crore (4,47,22,605) while the death toll has climbed to 5,30,881 with five new deaths. One death each was reported from Delhi, Haryana, Kerala and Rajasthan in a span of 24 hours and one was reconciled by Kerala.
At 18,389, the active cases comprise 0.04 per cent of total infections. The national Covid-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.77 percent, as per the health ministry website. The daily positivity rate stood at 2.87 percent and the weekly positivity rate at 2.24 percent. The ministry’s website showed that 220.66 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.
(With PTI inputs)
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