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It’s a tale of two different populations and their exposure to a virus scripts a country’s response, and the ground realities are very different between India and China, said eminent virologist Dr Gagandeep Kang.
Comparing the Covid-19 situation in India and China, over the last three years, Kang told businessline, “The same virus is encountering very different populations.”
According to Kang, a professor at the Wellcome Trust Research Laboratory, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India has seen multiple waves of Covid-19 infections, vaccination coverage has been largely achieved through the use of two vaccines, and a sero-survey found over 90 per cent of the population infected.
China, on the other hand, suppressed the virus for three years and only a tiny population was infected, she pointed out. Furthermore, the inactivated Covid-19 vaccines used were against the Wuhan strain of the virus, whereas the Omicron variant of the original SARS-CoV-2 virus has now spread across the globe.
As a result, China will see a surge in infections, severe disease and mortality, Kang explained, adding that it appeared to be along expected lines, given the data available.
‘Nations need to be alert’
According to Kang, viruses will evolve, but she does express concern whether the high levels of virus replication being observed in China may lead to new, more severe variants as well. Countries need to be watchful of the spread of such a variant across the world, she said, calling for greater surveillance and sequencing in India as well.
The present variants of Omicron are seen to be highly transmissible, but BF.7 (said to be causing the surge in China) has been reported in India earlier this year, and had not resulted in increased hospitalisation or ICU-admissions, multiple virologists agree.
In the absence of an even more highly infectious variant, Kang said, she did not expect another surge in the country.
Take precautionary dose
On the scramble for vaccinations and booster shots, Kang said, the elderly and vulnerable population need to take their third (precautionary) dose, to improve their immunity.
But a booster or fourth dose, “though it does little harm, it provides only an incremental benefit,” she said, especially in young and healthy people.
As the pitch is being made for more vaccinations, Kang reiterated the need to generate and cull out data on the efficacy of the different vaccines (given that over 220 crore doses have been administered) and map adverse events, among other things.
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