Srinagar, June 12: People must not get complacent, should follow Covid Appropriate Behaviour and get vaccinated as “expert views” suggest that India may be heading towards a situation similar to the United States which witnessed multiple waves of Covid-19, said leading cardiologist Dr U Kaul.
“It is the pattern of this pandemic. The 3rd and 4th waves are taking place in the US and we may head towards a similar direction. We cannot stop the pandemic but can protect ourselves by following the SOPs and mass vaccination, especially those in the high risk groups,” said Dr Kaul in an interview with Greater Kashmir.
Dr Kaul said that Covid-19 continues to pose major challenges to the society. “While social distancing has helped in mitigating spread of virus, it has resulted in adoption of a sedentary lifestyle and thus shot up all risk factors including stress, blood pressure and high cholesterol causing more heart attacks,” he said.
Dr Kaul said that 30 to 40 per cent of “our population has high blood pressure and 10 to 15 per cent has diabetes. They are high risk people and if they get Covid infection, their activities get reduced, food intake increases thus causing risk factors such as shooting up of Cholesterol.”
Dr Kaul said it has been found that Cholesterol levels among people in many cases had doubled posing more risk of heart attack among them. “It is partly because of the inflammation caused by Covid and partly because of the bad lifestyle due to the lockdown. The exercise has been reduced and intake of fast food increased which has shot up the risk factors such as stress, blood pressure and cholesterol levels thus increasing the chances of heart attack.”
Dr Kaul said the gloom caused by the pandemic has increased stress levels among people. “Every family has suffered due to Covid and lost someone directly or indirectly. The trauma caused by Covid coupled with the bad lifestyle has increased the number of heart attacks as well. Covid itself can produce a heart attack in a person with normal arteries,” Dr Kaul said.
Dr Kaul has a word of caution for patients of high blood pressure saying that they must be quite careful. “Patients who have had heart surgeries and other procedures must be very careful. They must consult their doctor before modifying their treatments. Even those heart patients going for surgeries must be in touch with the cardiologist,” Dr Kaul said.
Dr Kaul said that vaccination continues to remain “our top priority” to fight the virus. “The US has had a higher mortality rate than India’s but 44% of the population there has been vaccinated and it (virus) has become a small problem there. The vaccination has begun in India but has not crossed 5 or 6 per cent. There are production constraints so priority is given to higher age groups and it must be done,” Dr Kaul said.
However, he said that with the increasing number of Covid waves, the age group affected by the virus is also reducing. “In the second wave we saw many persons in the age group of 18 – 40 getting involved without any underlying ailments. Number of children affected by Covid till now has been less. Although we now have the vaccines, the mutants of Covid are quite a threat. The Indian variant, whose name had become contentious and was later named as Delta wave, has even affected the United Kingdom. It has been proved that the protection provided by vaccines in the Alpha variant of Covid was much more than in the Delta variant,” Dr Kaul said.
Dr Kaul said there has to be mass vaccination undertaken and awareness regarding vaccination must be increased. On the non-acceptability of Covaxin in countries such as the US, Dr Kaul said: “Covaxin was developed at a much later stage and its data is still evolving. Just today morning we heard that the US has not granted emergency use permission to Covaxin. Not that they have anything negative in mind but they (the US) wants complete data before they accept the Covaxin,” Dr Kaul said.
Commenting on the “confusion” that prevailed regarding the gap between the first and the second dose of Covisheild, Dr Kaul said: “Taking even one dose of this vaccine increases immunity. If a second dose of this vaccine is given after just 28 days, it may affect the availability and not many people may get the vaccine in such a scenario. So, while keeping the demand-supply in mind, it had been advised that taking a second dose of Covisheild even 12 to 16 weeks after the first dose is also effective,” Dr Kaul said.
“The amount of vaccine required is not available but hopefully over a period of a few months, the production will increase and even the US has agreed to donate vaccines to some countries including India,” Dr Kaul said.