Amid a time when the country has been overwhelmed by the second Covid wave, on Wednesday yet another terrible news arrived. Some medical journals, mostly overseas, were giving hints that a third Covid wave might be imminent and Principal Scientific Adviser to the Centre, K Vijay Raghavan finally endorsed it officially. If the chief takeaway of this grave revelation is that the third wave is inevitable in India, the one which is equally concerning relates to the fear that the vaccines now available may not be effective to the new strains under the third wave and needs upgradation. It will be a rational presumption that a caveat of such weight has been issued by the Centre with the intention to infuse more Covid consciousness among people since the Principal Scientific Adviser also added that with such an evolving situation it’s vital for all citizens to strengthen guards. But last not least, the assurance has come that the vaccines that are available as of now are effective, carrying the message that people need to take it as early as possible. However, the on-ground realities in terms of availability are extremely discouraging and across all states the picture is akin.
From the medical science point of view, the warning is significant and should serve as yet another wake-up for the citizens who are still not genuinely serious about Covid SOPs. At the moment, there is also a lack of definite information regarding the exact time-line when the third phase will strike, as evident from the Principal Scientific Adviser’s statement. However, for a common man on the street, a third or fourth wave hardly matters and the scientific jargons-laded press conferences matter equally little. For him/her it’s the availability of the vaccine which is paramount to get the required respite from Covid. But it’s virtually a pillar to post effort to get the doses now, mostly with little success. Nonetheless, there is no end to data which paints a feel-good picture of availability of vaccines. As per Tuesday’s figures, so far more than 17.02 crore vaccine doses have been provided to states/UTs free of cost by the Centre and more than 94.47 lakh doses are still available with them, waiting to be administered and in addition over 36 lakh doses will be supplied in the next 3 days. The numbers, if viewed individually, are mind-boggling indeed. However, when placed side by side with the actual needs that would take the nation to the doors of herd immunity, it’s still a fraction of the epical effort undone till now.
It will be a waste of precious time to talk about a third wave and so on. The second one should be fought first. It’s a national misfortune that the most trusted arsenal, the vaccine is still so scarce.  

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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