Government advocates Covid-19 vaccination, urges caution ahead of festive season

As per the statistics compiled by the India Covid-19 vaccine tracker, 0.24 percent deaths took place among fully vaccinated people of 60 years and above age group on the week ending August 15, 0.17 percent death with one dose and 13.06 percent death among non-vaccinated people.

New Delhi: Highlighting the importance of the Covid-19 vaccination, the Union government on Thursday reiterated that two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine can reduce mortality cases by 97.5 percent. The government said that one dose of the vaccine reduces the mortality rate by 96.6 percent. The government also issued a strong caution ahead of the coming festive season urging people to avoid mass gatherings.

"The second wave of pandemic is not yet over. Mass gathering during festive season may again witness spike of the pandemic," said Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director-General, Dr Balram Bhargava, while addressing a press conference on India's Covid-19 situation.

Reiterating that Covid-19 vaccines can prevent mortality, Dr Bhargava said two doses of the vaccines can decrease mortality cases. The ICMR DG was quoting data analysed by the apex medical research institute during April and August.

"Full dose of vaccines are effective in preventing death across all age groups," said Dr Bhargava.

As per the statistics compiled by the India Covid-19 vaccine tracker, 0.24 percent deaths took place among fully vaccinated people of 60 years and above age group on the week ending August 15, 0.17 percent death with one dose and 13.06 percent death among non-vaccinated people.

Similarly, 0.03 percent deaths took place among fully vaccinated people between 45 to 59 years of age, 0.05 percent deaths with one dose and 3 percent death amongst non-vaccinated people.

The vaccine tracker which will come online shortly further said that 0.04 percent deaths took place among fully vaccinated people in the 18 to 44 years age group, 0.01 percent among people who have taken a single dose and 0.4 percent among non-vaccinated people.

Giving details of the present Covid-19 situation, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that daily new cases have gone down to 43,263 from 4,14,188 reported on May 7.

"However, there are 38 districts at present which are reporting daily cases of more than 100," said Bhushan.

He said that Kerala accounts for 60.98 percent of the total Covid cases presently reported from across India, followed by Maharashtra at 13.06 percent, Karnataka at 4.34 percent, Tamil Nadu at 4.11 percent and Andhra Pradesh at 3.69 percent.

"At present Kerala has more than 1 lakh active cases," said Bhushan.

35 districts across India are reporting more than 10 percent weekly positivity and 30 districts are reporting positivity between 5 to 10 percent. India's present Covid recovery rate is 97.5 percent .

Meanwhile, referring to the forthcoming festive season, Dr VK Paul, member Niti Aayog and chairman of India's Covid-19 task force said that the festival could be a cause of concern.

"We have to avoid mass gathering during the festive times because it (Covid-19) is highly transmissible disease," asserted Dr Paul. He suggested celebrating the festival "indoors."

Referring to the ongoing debate over the resumption of schools for children, Dr Paul said that giving vaccination to the children before opening school is not mandatory.

Earlier, a group of experts under the Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine (IAPSM) had suggested the resumption of schools for children without vaccination to the government.

"However, many of the vaccines manufactures including Novavax, Bio Vex, BioE among others already got permission for conducting vaccine trials among children," said Dr Paul. He informed that talks are on with Moderna and J&J to get their vaccines for children.