Far from endemic, the COVID pandemic is still touching new peaks globally. By one count, cases reached 1.44 million on Monday, the highest single-day number on record. The seven-day rolling average of daily cases, above 840,000, is also at its worst, and is likely to rise as of 2022. Omicron’s hyper-infectivity is to blame, a variant that has again shown us how difficult it is to predict the evolutionary path of this virus. So far, it has killed more than 5.4 million people worldwide and has yet to do so, although the latest wave of deaths is less than half of the global peak of early 2021 on a one-week moving-average basis .
India has no option but to prepare for another attack. As for the precautionary jabs, early next year, the Center has clarified that people aged 60 years and above will not be required to show a doctor’s certificate of co-morbidity, although vulnerable people in this age group can take the third shot. if nine months have elapsed since their second dose. Meanwhile, Covaxin jabs are to be offered to pre-adults aged 15-18, while frontline health workers will also be able to receive CovaShield. Boosters may stifle Omicrons, but our coverage, it’s clear, will be too short to be sufficient.
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