COVID-19: Over 50 per cent of Indians have developed herd immunity, states sero-survey

The glitches in CoWIN may have delayed the vaccination drive in Mumbai but as per a recent serosurvey more than 50 per cent of the Indian population has developed herd immunity and concerns are being raised about the need to vaccinate the entire country due to this Sanjiv Agarwal founder of Good Governance India Foundation a public policy think tank working closely with globally renowned health care experts says the vaccine is only for those still vulnerableHealth workers at Nair Hospital on SaturdayAgarwal said ldquoIndia is probably the only country that is expected to develop herd immunity at a fast pace while keeping the death rates very low and yet has vaccines rolling out The natural immunity attained due to COVID antibodies may not be lifelong but is quite effective and lasting Even those who suggest vaccination admit that it is not clear as to how long the vaccinationinduced immunity will last Moreover vaccines that are based on inactivated viruses like Covaxin possibly cannot impart better antibodies than the natural ones Hence it cannot be scientifically argued that those who have already developed natural immunity to COVID19 must also be administered a vaccine on an emergency basisrdquolsquoVaccinate those vulnerablersquoAgarwal continued ldquoIt would be too costly time consuming and perhaps unethical to force the entire population of India to take the vaccine when it seems to have already achieved a high level of natural immunity as admitted by policymakers Vaccination can be reserved for vulnerable groups who may not have developed natural immunity yetrdquoThe daily deaths due to COVID have come down to approximately 200 from the peak of around 1000 he said This is a small number if you consider that more than 26000 people die in India every day due to different diseases for example about 2000 people die from diarrhoea and 1200 from tuberculosis every day he said ldquoThe drastic decrease in daily deaths is due to herd immunity as a result of widespread infection rather than lockdowns or other control measures The lockdown was unnecessary and possibly ruined many people destroyed the economy while nature was at work spreading the infection at a fast pace a blessing in disguise because that is how herd immunity is builtrdquo Agarwal saidldquoA swift focused protection strategy to administer the vaccine which targets only the most vulnerable with a choice to test whether they have developed natural immunity will be the best course of actionrdquo Agarwal concludedlsquoIssues with consentrsquoSenior legal brains have raised concerns about the Covaxin maker coming up with their consent form stating it is under trial phase while the maker of Covishield has not issued any such consent underlining the need to bring more transparency in the entire vaccine programmeAdvocate Prasanna S said ldquoThere are several issues with the consent notice of BBIL Ms Bharat Biotech International Limited Consent in law has to be free and informed For true informed consent this notice has to be in multiple languages and the signature is to be obtained against the notice that has the subjectrsquos language Or the subject has to be read out the contents in a language which he understandsrdquoldquoIt is also not clear if the consent notice is from the ministry of health or BBIL The notice bears no signature of the issuing authority which makes it unclear if it is a legally enforceable form Further it is not clear if the liability of BBIL or the government of India is limited and to what extent in case of a compensation claimrdquo said PrasannaSolicitor Stuti Galiya said ldquoThe Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 includes guidelines for the conduct of clinical trials to ensure that patients and volunteers participate in them only after a complete understanding of the investigative study It is the duty of the physicians to apprise the trial subjects about the experiments in detail The consequences of being a party to the trial should be made known to the patient consent documents should be approved by the ethics committee and submitted to the Central Licensing AuthorityrdquoGaliya added ldquoThe regulations also mandate that the concerned hospital is required to maintain an audiovideo recording of the informed consent process in case of vulnerable subjects in clinical trials of a new chemical entity As COVID19 falls under clinical trials of a new chemical entity there should have been an audiovideo recording of the informed consent process It is important that the process as prescribed under the Act to conduct clinical trials is duly followed to ensure that vaccine administration done in haste does not fall short of the legal requirementsrdquo