KANNYAKUMARI: The Indian Medical Association (IMA) President Dr JA Jayalal on Wednesday called for speeding up the COVID vaccination drive and warned about the threat of a third wave as the majority of the country's population is not vaccinated.
Dr Jayalal said, "COVID-19 is ransacking the country, the number of cases is rising in the southern states with many people struggling to get oxygen support, hospital beds and drugs. The death toll is also on the rise. The only way forward is vaccination. If we're not pushing for mass vaccination, it's not safe to face the third wave that is bound to occur. Mass vaccination has to be done. Centre must procure a maximum number of vaccines, decentralise even to an extent of the door to door vaccination."
"We should expedite the process and within a few months we should complete our target of 60-70 per cent vaccination," he said reminding that only 18.5 crores of people have been vaccinated and that India should get 70 to 80 crores of people vaccinated to achieve herd immunity.
"There is conflict as to when should people recovering from COVID get vaccinated. Making them wait for 6 months is a threat for them, exposing them to the virus," the IMA president said adding that, "Government should reconsider it with scientific evidence and come out with the objective that everyone in this country should get vaccinated at the earliest. So that we will be able to have a COVID-free India in near future."
India recorded the highest single-day COVID-19 fatalities with 4,529 new deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry's data on Wednesday. Meanwhile, India's daily coronavirus cases remained below the 3 lakh mark for the third consecutive day as only 2,67,334 fresh infections were recorded during a 24-hour period.