Meghalaya has inadvertently let its guard down against COVID-19 and the only way to fight the disease is vaccination.
Dr. Rajeev Sarkar, epidemiologist Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH) said that the virus seems to be virulent this time around because of the fact that the public has been fighting the pandemic for the last one year.
“Inadvertently we have put our guards down,” Dr. Sarkar noted.
Health experts of the State on Saturday during an online conference with traditional heads and the general public said vaccination will help curtail the spread of infection to some extent.
Reiterating that that the vaccine is safe and effective, Dr. Meban Kharkongor of the Robert’s Hospital, Shillong said the vaccine may have minor side effects. “We won’t get wonder pills overnight which after taking it there will be no more ailments,” he said.
Dr. Vijay Nongpyiur of North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) said that getting vaccinated will bring in herd immunity.
The experts also said that if the vaccine shots are taken, such individuals if infected symptoms will be mild and they won’t need hospitalisation. They advocated that both the doses have to be taken so that an individual receives 80 per cent immunity from the virus.
Informing that trails of the vaccine has not been done on pregnant and lactating mothers the experts advised that such categories of persons should not take the vaccine.
The experts noted that, “doctors have to take on a case by case basis” if such women are health care workers or frontline workers.
Meanwhile, Dr. V. J. Laloo specialist in community medicine informed that presently the State has 80000 vials of the Covishield vaccine which will last for the next four days.
The State is targeting to vaccinate 15000 persons per day.
