India achieving herd immunity could be a myth: AIIMS Director

Update: 2021-02-21 10:18 GMT
When India is aiming to achieve herd immunity against novel Coronavirus, four states in the countries have witnessed a spike in fresh Coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours.

Responding to the latest development, AIIMS director Dr. Randeep Guleria opined that the new lineages of the respiratory disease detected in Maharashtra could be dangerous and more transmissible than the earlier strain.

Adding further, Randeep Guleria said, the country achieving herd immunity against the novel Coronavirus might be a myth as at least 80 percent of the people should have anti-bodies for this.

People who develop anti-bodies against the Coronavirus are also not safe with the new strains of Coronavirus as they could trigger re-infections in patients who have anti-bodies.

'The fresh strains of Coronavirus could escape the immune system of people and it can even attack a person's immunity by causing re-infection,' the AIIMS Director said.

According to the information, more than 240 new lineages of the novel Coronavirus have been detected in India. These variants of the virus are said to be behind the latest spike in infections.

The Union government has started a nationwide vaccination drive against the Coronavirus in January this year. In the first phase of the vaccination drive, the government is aiming to vaccinate 3 crore health workers. As of now,  1,10,85,173 healthcare workers and frontline workers have been vaccinated with the vaccine.
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