AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria makes BIG statement on COVID-19 third wave in India

Director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, Dr Randeep Guleria on Tuesday hailed the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive in the country and said that no booster dose is required in the country as of now.

Speaking at the launch of a book "Going Viral: Making of Covaxin - The Inside Story", authored by ICMR Director-General Dr Balram Bhargava, Dr Randeep Guleria said, "It is unlikely that a third wave of COVID-19 of a magnitude comparable to the first and second will hit India. With time the pandemic will take an endemic form. We'll continue to get cases but the severity will be highly reduced." 

He also underlined that absence of surge in cases at the moment suggests that vaccines are still protecting against the virus and there is no need for a booster dose for now.

Lauding India's progress in terms of medicine, Dr Guleria further said, "When H1N1 had hit India, vaccines were imported from foreign countries. From importing vaccines to manufacturing our own indigenous vaccine, we have come a long way. Today, our COVID-19 vaccines are being exported to other countries."

Speaking on the current situation of COVID-19 in the country, Dr V K Paul, a Member of NITI Aayog warned that the pandemic is not over yet and will not likely be over in near future. "It might become an endemic instead of a pandemic, or could be a pandemic in a pandemic. The virus might take a different shape but India is ready to deal with the situation. We are in a better situation now," he added. 

(With agency inputs)