Here’s what one of India’s top virologist Dr T Jacob John says about Covid vaccination

published on EastMojo on Jan 17, 2022

Vaccinate before it is too late, warns top virologist

Dr T Jacob John, a retired professor of Christian Medical College, Vellore, says India should have acted fast when the first warnings came in

Covid-19’s omicron variant is capable of stealthily infecting in spite of all precautions taken and can cause severe disease, even death, among the vulnerable, and so people should vaccinate before it is too late, a top virologist has said.

“Earlier, Delta was more efficient in transmission and it dominated the epidemiology. Today Omicron is even more transmissible,” Dr T Jacob John, a retired professor and head of departments of clinical virology and microbiology at Christian Medical College, Vellore, told this writer.

Whether vaccinated or not, following Covid protocol is a must, but even the educated often forget this point. “Masks must be compulsorily worn, but all masks are not good enough. The other precautions regarding social distancing etc., are well known. But even in spite of these, Omicron can stealthily infect,” Dr John said on how to stay safe.  

Dr John explained how Japan experienced two months of endemic prevalence since the end of September last year and disallowed travellers from outside in a bid to stop Omicron.

“But Omicron entered Japan through a twice-vaccinated diplomat. Now Japan is bracing for a new wave with all the known defences, including booster doses,” Dr John said in an email interview.

For the last two years, the Covid pandemic has taken the world by storm that refuses to subside. The virus is getting muted and new variants are cropping up. People are in the midst of uncertainty as no one seems to have any answer.

During the first wave, the virus was new and as an experiment, a lockdown was announced. Vaccines were not available then and we could not flatten the curve. The result: the economy suffered and lives were lost.

During the second wave, though vaccines were available, many other factors came into play – Kumbh mela, elections, people’s resistance to take vaccines, unavailability of enough vaccine stock. All this led to a devastating result with India losing too many lives along with the rest of the world. 

After the horrifying second wave caused by the Delta variant, from early July to the last week of December 2021, India experienced a period of low daily cases, settling down to an endemic state.

Next cropped up the Omicron variant of the SARS Cov-2 virus. The World Health Organisation (WHO) on November 26, 2021 alerted about the next wave with huge numbers of infections. The initial relief was that it was a diluted version of Covid caused by Delta. People took it lightly, thinking the variant to be mild. The vaccinated ones were confident that now the virus can’t attack them. The result is in front of us. Omicron is now spreading like a wild fire.

The government has opened vaccination from 15-18 age groups from January 3, 2022. But the point is even if we achieve high coverage, will the response affect the shape or mass of a third wave? Stressing the importance of vaccines, Dr John says, “Those who are due for the second dose must take it before it is too late. Now boosters are available to government-stipulated categories. Take it. Even 15-18 (age group) likewise.”

The government has opened up booster dose for certain categories but what if another variant comes, another booster dose? “We must find out by studies. Another variant may not be immunity dodger.  If found necessary, yes another booster.  If not wait for waning of immunity — boosted immunity may last longer than un-boosted,” he says.

Last year, the fatalities were very high due to the Delta variant, how scared should we be this time? Dr John says, “Omicron case-fatality rate is about 10% (roughly) that of Delta. For vulnerable people, Omicron can cause severe disease and even death.” 

Taking a vaccine does not make us say protected forever. So, for how long does a vaccine’s effect last? Dr John says, “In the UK, effectiveness against disease requiring hospitalisation was 72% till 25 weeks after the second dose; fell to 52% after 25 weeks, but rose to 88% two weeks after a booster.  Although we use different vaccines, the principle is the same.”

Some people are of the view that a human body can build natural immunity, and when we take vaccines, we become dependent and our body gradually reduces the ability to build natural immunity. Dr John dismisses this concept. “Wrong notion. Vaccine is just like infection in stimulating immune system with no risk of diseases (no infection is introduced). Immunity is specific to each infectious agent.”

So apart from vaccines, how do we build our immunity? Dr John says, “Immunity is specific to one agent or its vaccine. Either get infected (with attendant risks) or get vaccinated.”

Dr John said WHO took just two days after the announcement from South Africa about this variant to issue its warning, and declared Omicron as a variant of concern on November 26 last year. He said scientists in South Africa provided early signals of two sinister properties — transmission efficiency higher than Delta, and Omicron’s ability to dodge immunity, whether induced by infection with other variants or the locally used vaccines, mainly mRNA, even two doses.

India, Dr John said, should have acted promptly immediately after the warning from WHO. What can the central and state governments do now to stop the virus from spreading more? “Far too late to consider that,” Dr John concludes.

(The writer is an independent journalist and content creator based in Delhi)

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8qtK5_RVrM

The writer is an independent journalist and content creator based in Delhi.

Here’s what one of India’s top virologist says about Covid vaccination

How Covid changed the life of an ‘Aam Aadmi’

 https://bestmediainfo.com/2021/05/how-covid-changed-the-life-of-an-aam-admi/

Published in BestMediaInfo

How Covid changed the life of an ‘Aam Aadmi’

After a tough 2020 and hoping for a better 2021, we are all back to square one – the ravaging coronavirus in a stronger and deadlier avatar, the same old lockdowns, work for and from home, fear, uncertainty and again hoping that this too shall pass

Life has taken a 360-degree turn ever since Covid struck us. Now, everything revolves around the virus — yet again. Till Covid entered our lives, our mantra was to be positive always. But now ‘positive’ is the most dreaded word.

The moment we open our eyes in the morning, the first thing we do is check our society WhatsApp group to see if there is any new case. Ever since the cases have been surging recklessly all over, a sense of fear has dawned — at least in our campus — and people do not go out unnecessarily — the only bright thing in an otherwise gloomy atmosphere.

Until Holi, the atmosphere was like — where is Covid? And people celebrated the festival of colours as if there is no tomorrow. And now the virus is doing tandav all over — and in multiple and stronger strains. Some people partied too early and celebrated victory over Covid, and just because of those foolish few, we all are suffering, locked inside our homes once again.

Just two weeks before Holi, we went home 2,000 kms away from Delhi. Things were much better then. There was a semblance of normalcy. We just needed to be patient. Had people waited another year to celebrate their favourite festival, maybe things wouldn’t have turned so bad.

We just can’t blame Holi. Just look at the gatherings at election rallies; as if Covid had bid adieu. But we are not allowed to speak or write on that. In a digital India, election campaigning could have been easily done virtually as the internet has reached Bharat (rural India) too. Or even better had the local and state elections been postponed by at least a year.Some leaders even claimed that cases in their states were going down, making a fool of themselves and even the aam janata, who otherwise seem to know everything.

Religious gatherings made things worse. Don’t understand why we Indians become blind when it comes to religion. If we believe God is everywhere, why can’t we pray inside our four walls till things get back to normal?

Another topic of discussion has come into our lives: whether to take the vaccine jab or not, and if yes, which one to take — Covishield or Covaxin or wait for Sputnik? And ever since the government has announced that every adult is eligible to take the vaccine, the enthusiasm has only increased. As if we will all get our boondh of amrit. But folks, don’t forget you will still have to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour even after taking the vaccine. Else, even if you might be shielded a bit, you will be the carrier and infect people around who are yet to get be vaccinated.

A new trend that is emerging on social media is a selfie after taking the jab with the hasthag #vaccinated. Nice to see that people are taking it seriously. But in a hugely populated country like ours, it will take time and patience to vaccinate one and all. We tried twice but the crowd was scary. There have been instances of people getting infected at the vaccine centre itself, and we didn’t want to be among them. And seeing very old people standing in long queues, we felt that we can wait as they need it more than us.

Now that a lockdown is being imposed phase-wise all over India again, an atmosphere of panic is gradually sinking in. There are queues in grocery shops to buy essentials and stock up, lest we die of hunger. If there is less space in the kitchen, then our living room has become a mini-grocery shop with all sorts of food items stocked. The unwritten rule is leave the things as it is for the first 12 hours, then sanitise each and everything in case the virus dares to stay even after so many hours in May’s scorching heat.

Our hunger pangs have also increased in the lockdown, and we tend to have too many meals throughout the day — breakfast, brunch, lunch, early evening snack, mid-evening snack, dinner, midnight snack and more the better.

Having helpers at home was a normal thing during pre-Covid days but now we have to manage everything on our own, including brushing our cooking skills like last year. Good for us, at least some exercise after all the overeating we do throughout the day. But don’t forget to help the helpers who are dependent on us. We can all become mini-chefs and try our hands in our retirement days if the virus lets us live.

Fake forwards are doing the rounds all over social media yet again. Every second person starts giving advice on how to boost immunity, what to do and what not to do. And we the obedient people are tempted to follow them too often. Ayurveda is ruling again as home remedies to boost immunity are flying thick and fast — garlic, lemon, amla (Indian gooseberry), turmeric, ginger, chyawanprash and what not. At least in our home, we take them all as a regular ritual depending on availability.

Mask is another debatable point. Initially it was advised that only medical professionals need to wear masks. Then it became essential for all to wear masks. And now it’s safe only if we wear a double mask. The best part is we don’t have to apply make-up as the mask comes to our rescue. For some it has also become a fashion statement but don’t forget the safety factor.

Now it seems no family will be left untouched by Covid. Recently, my brother-in-law tested positive in Guwahati. A doctor friend of ours arranged a bed in a hospital. As we could not go, my mother-in-law called 108 for ambulance but it was not available, so she tried for private ones and they demanded Rs 5,000 to drop him to hospital and Rs 5,000 for PPE kit. This is just a single instance; there is black marketing all over in the whole health structure till the cremation ground.  Guess in these uncertain times, some people are forgetting there is a law of karma. Karma is smiling, saying “As you sow, so shall you reap”. 

But everything is not that bad as there are lot of good Samaritans all over serving people selflessly.

Fortunately my brother-in-law had mild symptoms and he remained in home isolation. By God’s grace, he is fit and fine now. Yes God’s grace is the only silver lining in the cloud in these uncertain times.

Even if it’s a conspiracy as many articles doing rounds say, till there is a supreme power above us, we should not lose hope and just keep our fingers crossed and pray that things will be back to normal like before — and not the new normal we are going through.

 

How Covid changed the life of an ‘Aam Aadmi’

Commentary: Do consumers really care about brands when bare essential is top priority?

https://bestmediainfo.com/2020/04/commentary-do-consumers-really-care-about-brands-when-bare-essential-is-top-priority/

Commentary: Do consumers really care about brands when bare essential is top priority? 

As consumers scramble to get their supply of daily essentials, it remains to be seen if they look for their preferred brands or just manage with whatever they can lay their hands on

Kakoli Thakur | April 13, 2020

In this hour of a global health crisis, when the Covid-19 threat has spread to every corner of the world, it is interesting to observe how relevant brands are to a consumer whose primary concern is now getting hold of his supply of daily essentials.

As mandated by the government, though grocery shops and pharmacies are open during the 21-day lockdown—which many states have extended till April 30—essential items are vanishing off the shelves either due to the non-availability or panic buying. The result: scarcity of items of daily use, forget your favourite brand.

Sample this. Suppose a consumer prefers Dettol hand wash over any other brand. But what happens when he goes to a nearby shop to get one and the shopkeeper informs him that only Savlon and some other brand is available. What will the consumer do? He will obviously buy whatever is available instead of thinking about his preference, knowing the importance of hand wash to keep the coronavirus at bay.

Again, there has been a lot of debate regarding the use of hand sanitiser in the absence of soap and water. Awareness ads and videos in different mediums say only sanitiser with at least 60% alcohol content should be used. Knowing the urgency, people are even hoarding sanitisers at home as they are not sure how long the lockdown will last. As such, branded ones are flying off shelves and people are buying whatever they are getting their hands on — even local products offered by fly-by-night operators. Though it’s specified on the bottles that there is 60% alcohol, what is the guarantee about it?

Some people argue that washing hands with soap and water is enough and also doubt the efficacy of hand sanitisers. Lifebuoy even went to the extent of creating an ad, showing a doctor saying, “Not only Lifebuoy, whatever hand wash or soap or hand sanitiser is handy, wash and clean your hand to save yourself from coronavirus”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlFhlJ2WHTc

Veterans and old-timers are saying the world has never faced such a crisis ever since World War-II. In fact, during World War II, only countries in war zones were affected but Covid-19 has spared no one and forced a global shutdown. So in this hour, food is the most essential thing anyone would need — branded or non-branded.

If a consumer visits a shop to buy Aashirvaad Atta, for example, and the shopkeeper says only some other brand or a local variant is available, that person will not return empty handed. Because the foremost thought in his mind would be choosing between staying hungry and getting something, at least.

For students staying away from home and bachelors who don’t know how to cook, the anytime favourite is Maggi instant noodles. So at the onset of this crisis, such people, and even families, hoarded Maggi packets — even in cartons. Three weeks into the lockdown, when home stocks have started drying out, people are buying whatever they are getting —it could be either Yippee or some other Maggi lookalike as it’s easy to make for whom cooking is an alien concept. The thought behind this is, obviously, getting an instant snack.

As positive cases increase every hour and people are scared to even step out of home, they are not even thinking of buying anything beyond essential — leave aside anything luxurious. Food takeaways are available but are people really getting what they want?

When a KFC fan called an outlet in a posh Delhi locality in the evening, he was told they were done for the day and nothing was left. So that person had to skip his evening snack that day. This is just an instance.

A lot of brands are delivering essentials at the doorstep — with a waiting time extending up to even days in some cases such as Bigbasket as one NCR resident pointed out — but even they can supply till stocks are available. But what about places where such deliveries are not available? In remote pockets? In unauthorised colonies in big cities? Or even in posh high-rises where delivery boys are not allowed in?

So manufacturing and distribution of essentials is more crucial at this hour at a time when staying safe, and alive, has become the top priority and people are not even thinking about brand preferences. 

Commentary: Do consumers really care about brands when bare essential is top priority?