Immunity for kids
PremiumWith schools reopening after a long covid hiatus, securing the immunity of school-goers is crucial. After all, catching a bug in class is a classic extra-curricular activity
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has given Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin approval for emergency use among children aged between 6 and 12 years. Plus, Biological E’s Corbevax and Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D have been cleared for 5-12-year-olds and those above 12 years, respectively. With schools reopening after a long covid hiatus, securing the immunity of school-goers is crucial. After all, catching a bug in class is a classic extra-curricular activity.
It’s time for India to maximize public access to covid vaccines by easing the path for imports as well. After lying low for weeks, India’s seven-day rolling average of daily cases went above 2,000 again over the weekend. Some experts have held that this need not signal a new wave, as it’s mostly a Delhi uptick and may reflect nothing scarier than an expected bump-up after masks came off and classes began. Still, alerts were sounded by health authorities and mask mandates brought back in some places. That was not an over-reaction. While only sketchy empirical data exists on the risk reduction achieved by masking, it’s a low-cost option that definitely beats being maskless. In a pandemic of nasty surprises, we cannot afford to ease off in hotspots.