COVID-19 might become endemic, third wave not to be devastating, says vaccinologist Dr Kang

In what could be termed as a big relief, vaccinologist Dr Gangandeep Kang on Monday said that the COVID-19 may be heading towards endemicity in India. She also pointed out that a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic was not ruled out. However, the scale will not be like before.

Dr Kang, a professor with Christian Medical College, Vellore was speaking virtually at the CII Lifesciences Conclave where she stressed the need for developing better vaccines that can deal with new variants of COVID-19 and strengthening the regulatory mechanisms.

 Dr Gangandeep Kang said the Indian vaccine industry has been 'absolutely phenomenal' in dealing with the pandemic, but it still has a long way to go.

"Unless there is a new variant there will not be a third wave of the size and consequences that we saw in the second wave. What we will see is local flare-ups where there are unprotected populations and where the virus has not been before," Kang said.

The endemic stage is very different from the epidemic stage when the virus overwhelms a population. In the endemic stage, the population learns to live with a virus. "Are we done with COVID? No, we are not. Are we going to be done with COVID? Not anytime in the near future," Dr Kang added.

Dr Kang also pointed out that in many states, the maternal mortality rate went up because women did not get care, the immunisation programmes were also affected. Also, people with cancer did not get chemotherapy, those diabetic could not get medicines, the TB programme, which needs high compliance with therapy, struggled.