Failing to contain the outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, Covid-19 spread to more Provinces in China, and the rest of the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a Public Health Emergency on 30th Jan 2020 and later declared it a pandemic on March 2020. The virus had been identified as SARS-CoV-2 and the disease as COVID-19. Although since then, the virus has been emerging with its many different forms like Delta, Alpha, and Beta variants and subsequently affecting the lives of many people.
Due to the rapid spread of the virus with immensely high infectivity and Infection Fatality Ratio (IFR), various preventive measures and guidelines were advised as there is no specific and complete cure against the virus, although experiments led by experts and researchers have claimed that people who are getting vaccinated against the deadly corona virus are not just cutting the risk of catching the virus, but are also staying away from turning the virus into long Covid.
Well, a COVID-19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against the virus by reducing the severity, and death caused by the same. It’s good to see that till now 27.5% of the population worldwide has been fully vaccinated and particularly in India, 11.1% population are fully vaccinated. We all know that at the beginning, there was a lot of hesitation, uncertainty, and misbelieve among people in terms of the effectiveness of the vaccine, but let me reassure you, in comparison to unvaccinated people, the people who got infected by corona virus after getting vaccinated were able to make full recovery in majority cases. The chances of developing symptoms after four weeks were reduced by 50 percent, which was not the case for unvaccinated Covid patients.
However, People with underlying health conditions that weaken their immune systems (such as cancer or HIV) or who have severe allergies to some vaccine components may not be able to get vaccinated. These people can still be protected if they live in and amongst others who are vaccinated. When a lot of people in a community are vaccinated the pathogen has a hard time circulating because most of the people it encounters are immune. So, the more people will get vaccinated, the fewer people like these will be at risk of even being exposed to harmful pathogens. Yes, it may seem far-fetched, but it’s true. It is known as ‘Herd Immunity’.
Just as importantly, I want to conclude that getting vaccinated, should never be misinterpreted as one being free from the required guidelines, it is a requisite that everyone who is getting vaccinated should continue to follow the COVID-19 protocol like, wearing the mask, ‘Do Gaj Ki Doori’ and proper sanitization to protect oneself and their fellow beings. Thank you.
