Srinagar: Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) has said vaccinating children against coronavirus holds key to reach herd immunity. “We cannot achieve herd immunity until children are vaccinated,” DAK said in a statement.
“Herd immunity is achieved when most of the population in a community is immune to the disease so that the virus no longer spreads easily from person to person,” the statement said.
It said early in the pandemic, it was estimated that around 70 percent of people would need to be vaccinated to reach the threshold at which the virus would not freely circulate.
“But the spread of more infectious Delta variant has pushed the threshold for herd immunity to well over 80 percent and potentially approaching 90 percent,” it added.
Herd immunity is unlikely to be achieved if children who constitute a significant proportion of the population are unvaccinated. There are around 4.8 million children in Jammu and Kashmir, which represent 38.4 percent of JK’s 1.25 crore population, the statement said.
“If we leave children unvaccinated, we will continue to have fresh waves and pandemic will linger on.”
The statement said Covid-19 vaccine is required for children to return to classrooms and is important for ensuring safe learning environment in schools.
“Vaccinating children is crucial to avert third Covid wave which is predicted to happen sometime in the fall of this year and is expected to affect kids the most,” it said
The statement said India has approved its first indigenous paediatric vaccine from Zydus Cadila for 12 years of age and above.
“While trials for younger kids are on, they might have to wait for sometime before they will be included in the vaccination schedule,” it added.
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