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…
Category: Herd immunity
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.…
Monkeys resist coronavirus reinfection; six DNA vaccines show promise in animal studies
Six rhesus macaque monkeys were resistant to reinfection following exposure to novel coronavirus. Compared with nose, the lungs had very less virus when challenged. In another study, the researchers tested…
COVID-19: Aiming to achieve herd immunity naturally is ‘dangerous’, WHO warns
It was mistakenly assumed that as this disease spreads across the world, only the severe cases become apparent while most people would indeed be infected as reflected in sero epidemiology…
Can we rely on natural herd immunity to end COVID-19 pandemic?
All previous influenza pandemics — 1918 Spanish flu, 1957 Asian flu, 1968 Hong Kong influenza, and 2009 H1N1 — came to an end when herd immunity acquired naturally reached a…
