The fourth wave of Covid will begin in June-July and extend through September: Karnataka's Minister of Health

  • April 13, 2022, 11:23 a.m.

Predictive studies opine that the 4th wave of COVID-19 will start in June or July and last till September, stated Karnataka Health Minister K. Sudhakar on Tuesday. "Karnataka is prepared to face it," he added.

He said that there was no need to worry as of now. He said the new XE variant of COVID-19 is prominent in eight countries, and people arriving from those countries are being screened. Answering a question, he said that the mask is still essential and there will be no relaxation, but said that there is no need to worry about the 4th wave. 5,000 children in the age group of 6–12 who are not yet eligible for the vaccine will be announced.

Speaking about India's vaccination progress, Sudhakar pointed out that many vaccines previously given to kids reached India a long time after they were available elsewhere in the world. "I don't want to bring politics into this collective fight against the pandemic, but people should know this. During the last 70 years when other parties ruled, vaccines came much later to India compared to the rest of the world. "

The Hepatitis B vaccine was introduced across the world in 1985 but came to India only in 2005. Compared to the rest of the world, the BCG vaccine came 20–25 years later and the Japanese Encephalitis vaccine came 45 years later. However, the first Covid case was found on January 30, 2020, and within a year, on January 16, 2021, India had introduced the vaccine, Sudhakar said.

Today, 10 vaccines have been approved and are available in India, and it is a proud thing that among them is one home-grown vaccine, the Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech. Other vaccines are Covishield, developed by Pune-based Serum Institute of India, which has tied up with Oxford University and AstraZeneca, Corbevax, and Zydus Cadila, which is the world's first DNA vaccine, Sudhakar said.

The Minister said that India approached Pfizer and Moderna initially, expecting that our vaccines may take time. "They agreed to provide the vaccine. But they refuse to take any responsibility or liability if something happens to our people. Our government was not willing to compromise on people's lives, and we decided to not provide the license unless they agreed to take liability. "

Speaking about Karnataka, he said that 10.54 crore vaccines are administered in the state. The second dose of the vaccine has been taken by 98 per cent of the people, and another 32 lakh people are yet to take the second dose. He urged people to take the second dose and also the precautionary dose at the earliest.

Author : Rajdhani Delhi Representative

Rajdhani delhi representative

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