Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Jan 28: Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) today said it is hard to beat the pandemic without vaccinating children.
DAK President Dr Nisar ul Hassan in a statement issued here said that we will not be able to defeat Covid-19 until children are vaccinated. “The most realistic way to achieve herd immunity is through wide-scale vaccination,” he said.
He said that the herd immunity is achieved when most of the population in a community is immune to the disease so that the virus can no longer spread easily from person to person.
“To achieve herd immunity to Covid-19, 80-90 per cent people need to be vaccinated,” DAK President said.
He said that it is unlikely to be achieved if children who constitute a huge proportion of the population are unvaccinated. “There are around 4.8 million kids in Jammu and Kashmir who cannot be vaccinated, and if we leave a large number of the population unimmunized, we will not be able to break the chain of infection and pandemic will linger on,” he said,
He impressed that the Covid-19 vaccine is required for children to return to classrooms and is important for ensuring a safe learning environment in schools.
“Children can get infected at school and spread the virus to parents and grandparents at home who are more likely to develop severe disease. Children can also transmit the virus to teachers and other staff at school,” he said.
He said that it is unjust to allow kids to take on great burdens during the pandemic but not allow them to benefit from a vaccine. A pediatric vaccine would not only help children, but it will be the basis of eventually eliminating Covid-19 in our population,” he said.
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