Barking dogs seldom bite…..The omicron wave.

Posted byDr. K Anil RoyPosted inhealth, medicine and what not|??Tags:, , , , , , , , , , ,
Barking dogs seldom bite

Ever since omicron came to dominate the covid scenario there have been discussions ,heated debates and arguments amongst the medical, scientific, bureaucratic and political community as to how it should be handled, whether it will cause increase in hospitalisation and deaths, will it spread rapidly. Views have been varied, each section claiming that they are right.

The vaccination against COVID has bee accepted by citizens at large, not necessarily because they believe in it but with the fear of death at the back of their minds they did take it, perhaps grudgingly. The scientific community, the pharmaceutical giants, manufacturers of vaccines, the bureaucrats and political people were the main peddlers for the vaccine. Never in the history of mankind has any vaccine with only permission for emergency use been given to so many people. It has been unprecedented . The political class and bureaucrats take pride in having vaccinated their populations without even knowing that the vaccine has only permission as an emergency use vaccine. The vaccine manufacturers are thrilled at the quantity sold and used, their profits have skyrocketed, the scientific community happy that thier line has been towed. The doctors community is divided on the issue, anyways they are neither the direct or major beneficiary in the whole vaccine game.

Vaccine…

Whether the vaccine has actually provided immunity to fully vaccinated is still a matter of study, concern and debate. Now they are propogating booster doses. Decisions are being taken by non medical personnel and the political establishment. The medical fraternity are divided in opinion but prefer to tow the official line,though there are a few scattered subdued voices of dissent.

Omicron has spread across the globe

Cases have been increasing worldwide at an alarming speed. Majority of the population is now infected. Hospitalisation rates are low and deaths are few. The fear of uncertainty is there. It is being advocated that this wave with its higher rate of infectivity and mild symptoms will ultimately lead to herd immunity and a vaccine itself might not be needed. At the same time vaccines are being pumped in for the younger age groups ,booster doses are also being advocated for all who have completed their second dose of vaccine. How much has vaccination helped, will this game of further boosters be kept going on perpetually. No one knows. Will people with complete second doses and booster remain immune………who knows!

Just going through the cases in a urban local body area in India, I found some statistics that perhaps will be unable to justify the fact that vaccination will help a person avoid from getting infected. The data is limited for a couple of weeks, it’s not a complete study, that data too could be imperfect and faulty. The data consists of infections in persons who were vaccinated. The data indicates that over 45 percent of the people who have had two doses of the vaccine are testing postive over the last two weeks. @ 0.70 percent of previous cases were reinfected and @ 2.8 percent infected had taken a single dose of the vaccine.Does it mean that the vaccine was ineffective in stopping the virus or is it that it can’t stop the latest mutated version. This does not augur well for the argument for vaccination. If this is so how will a booster help?? What about the claimed efficacy of the vaccine. With new cases multiplying by the day it could be possible that the percentage of those having been vaccinated and still getting infected would still increase further. What should we do, take the two doses and stay shut or go further and take booster doses. No complete answers are available, atleast at present.

This wave has seen the virus spreading rapidly at breakneck speed. Admission or need for oxygen beds are not very high, but the sheer numbers of infected could see us in a situation where beds could be unavailable soon. Deaths are hardly any but one can’t predict the future. Omicron has perhaps replaced delta version of the virus. But will omicron bite or just remain a barking dog. Only time will tell.

Will it bite

Published by Dr. K Anil Roy

Medical doctor, partly atheist but believes there is a god, anti establishment, renegade, proud to be an Indian, an awakened one,!! Tolerant to criticism

21 thoughts on “Barking dogs seldom bite…..The omicron wave.”

  4. The system is driving the entire Virus Vaccination and all related stories – the masses are just mere mortals towing the line at “gun point” – No vaccination deprives an individual travelling rights, access to restaurants, school etc. – with no option left we fall in place with a mask over our face and the virtual ones over our eyes and intellect. If this is profiteering at the cost of humanity – guess we have hit a new low in our moral values. Hope this ends soon – as two years of our lifetime has just vanished like flipping pages of the calendar.

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  9. I think the interesting bit is this falls in the domain of experts and here the Doctors,scientist, the researchers, WHO are the supposedly experts on which the layman and the system eventually will look for inputs, direction and decisions are themselves divided and this adds to the chaos . with the covid , that community is today more divided than before as also called out by the author himself, there is no clear decisiveness in what is true and what is not .. ??where will the common population then go to? The medical fraternity is divided , the scientific community is as well.. there are papers and data contradicting either way.. as a state the government cannot be indecisive and will need to take a stance either way , either go with vaccine or not.. it can’t be in limbo. Considering the way today we are globally connected as countries than maybe two decades ago, it is impossible for various reasons from economics to trade and many more to stay away from vaccines.
    International travel has grown 10 times or more in last decade that it is impossible yo track and trace or quarantine in time.. unlike the original Saars virus which came behind of 2000, I still recollect it was supposedly more dangerous and but then the world wasn’t this connected .. it was easier to put checks and Controls and isolate.. that will not be the case anymore ..
    Don’t know if there are any countries which have stayed away from vaccine, irrespective of type of government it has in place ..

    Fundamentally the question was does the vaccine protect infections.. I think the line toed has always been it will help prevent severe infections and hospitalization and therefore be less stressful on the system and better manageable if pandemic .. the question we need to take is if we need booster or not and that i guess should remain an individual choice unlike the vaccination itself .. when nobody is really sure then let the individual make that choice .
    What still makes sense would be follow the protocols irrespective of vaccination or not and that can go a long way till we have a clear answer and everyone is on the same page ..
    till such time , we will continue to go through these cycles and hopefully 2022 will see hope at the end of the tunnel.

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