How the idea of vaccine protection changed in one year
On this day last year (December 11, 2020), Pfizer’s vaccine for COVID-19 was granted an emergency use authorisation, and exactly a week later, Moderna’s vaccine was granted an EUA. On…
Category: Herd immunity
Is the race to reach herd immunity like chasing a mirage?
There have been instances in some countries where the virus spread has largely been under some kind of control at least for some duration. However, the emergence of highly contagious…
Erroneous to conclude that we have attained herd immunity, says Srinath Reddy
In an email, Dr. Srinath Reddy, President of the Public Health Foundation of India and member of the National COVID-19 Technical Taskforce dispels the wrong notion that India is close to…
As cases spike in a few States, what is causing a decline in Kerala?
Even as recently as March 6, March 4, March 3, March 2 and March 1 the Health Ministry mischievously implicated Kerala for the surge in cases when it included Kerala…
Is the first coronavirus wave coming to an end in India?
The number of daily fresh coronavirus cases has been steadily dropping from a peak of nearly 98,000 cases on September 16 to below 25,000 daily cases in the last few days with no spike seen nationally. The cases have been reducing despite the festival season, winter, large gatherings and not so good adherence to non-pharmaceutical interventions. However, the cumulative test positivity rate nationally is 6.1% as on December 23, which suggests we aren’t near the end of the first wave immediately.
COVID-19: Challenges in achieving herd immunity through vaccination
But the government’s idea of vaccinating a “critical mass of people” for the purpose of breaking the virus transmission chain is riddled with problems. Unlike the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer…
T cell memory that cross-reacts with novel coronavirus does not prevent infection, researcher clarifies
The presence of pre-existing T cell memory against four common cold coronaviruses which cross-reacts with novel coronavirus may not prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection, but at most be able to reduce the…
Is there a case for issuing immunity certificates to COVID-19 recovered people?
While there is a clear case for ‘immunity passports’ with some restrictions for people who have recovered from COVID-19, the issue of handing out such certificates is an ethical minefield.…
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