Northeast highly vulnerable to 3rd wave of Covid-19, mass vaccination a must: ICMR

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Indian Council Medical Research (ICMR) has predicted that a vast majority of the population of the North Eastern States will be vulnerable in case the third wave of Covid-19 hits the country. The research organization said intensified and mass vaccination is the only way to reverse the situation.

"The NE States, which went in for early lockdown taking lessons from Delhi and Maharashtra, have a vast majority of their population vulnerable to the third wave and the government must ramp up vaccination drive in these States. If the State-level restriction is lifted in the NE States, there is a possibility that the infection spread may go upwards again, so it is very important to step up vaccination drive in these States before they do the unlocking," a source in the Health department while quoting Samiran Panda, senior scientist at the ICMR, said.

Panda has been part of an ICMR team which together with a collaborator from Imperial College London carried out a simulation study on the potential third wave, which was published online in the Indian Journal of Medical Research.

The study has concluded that the key to controlling the third wave in India is to vaccinate the maximum number of people in the shortest possible time which may help flatten the curve.

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