LESSONS FROM POLIO VACCINATION

In order to overcome the hesitancy, the centre must take lessons from its polio drive which went from door to door, locality to locality. There's also a need for mass publicity in rural areas

- Abhinav Mehrotra and Dr Biswanath Gupta

WITH the central government announcing the rollout of the booster or third dose from January 10, 2022, for frontline and health workers and senior citizens above 60 years with co-morbidities, the minimum difference between the second dose and third one has become nine months. The debate surrounding its restriction for certain categories has assumed significance as the effect of the first two shots of the vaccine has been found to be waning. This is apparent from the increasing number of cases seen earlier.

The reasons for the decline in the effectiveness are multifaceted the careless attitude of people towards mandatory masking, violation of public health precautions, such as social distancing, and claims that India has developed herd immunity as a large number of people have suffered from prior infections or have been surrounded by those who have been vaccinated.

Despite these claims, the rise is apparent in the spread of cases caused by the Omicron variant. This surge is substantiated by a systematic report by WHO, according to which, the effectiveness of four vaccines-Astra Zeneca, Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson-have decreased by 8% against severe Covid-19 for six months in all age groups, whereas for those above 50, vaccine effectiveness has reduced by about 10% for the same period.