Amid growing concerns over the new variant ‘Omicron’ of the corona virus (Covid19), a parliamentary committee to evaluate the effect of anti-Covid vaccines and the need for booster doses to overcome the novel form of corona More research is recommended.
In the report presented by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health, it also said that the new pattern developing the ‘immunoscape’ system should be dealt with seriously. In view of the loss of life and property during the second wave of the global pandemic Coronavirus, the Committee has observed that the measures taken by the Ministry of Health to curb or prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 have proved to be completely inadequate. .
The committee has advised to focus on strengthening health infrastructure, ensuring adequate availability of beds and supply of oxygen cylinders and essential medicines. Given the threat of a third wave, the government should use this time to strengthen public health infrastructure.
The committee observed that there is a dire need to improve testing facilities in rural areas of the country. It has also recommended coordination between PHCs/CHCs with VRDLs in the states. The panel has said in its report, ‘The committee believes that timely detection and isolation of potentially infectious people is very important to reduce the impact of the epidemic. Hence the importance of diagnostic testing cannot be overlooked.
Apart from this, the committee’s other recommendations include the government to approve more vaccines, accelerate vaccine production, increase delivery capacity and aggressively pursue this program with increased vaccination rates. The committee has said that the second wave of corona came about six months after the peak of the first wave, but the investigative infrastructure in India remained ‘extremely weak and highly inadequate’.
