The Union Home Ministry formed a committee that has said that the third wave of COVID-19 may reach its peak around October and children will be the ones who could be affected the most as adults.
The Committee has submitted its report to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), which says that there is a critical need for paediatric facilities, including doctors, staff, and equipment like ventilators and ambulances if a large number of children got infected by the virus.
According to the committee, the available infrastructure was “no nowhere close” to the requirement, if the need arose.
The committee of experts was set up under the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) of the MHA, as per a report published in The Times of India. The vaccination drive against the virus for children with comorbidities and those with special needs are also been prioritized in the report
Earlier, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya had hinted that children may start receiving their doses against the virus from September. Meanwhile, recently India’s drug regulators have approved Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D vaccine for children above 12 years of age, the drive is yet to begin.
According to experts’ study titled ‘Third Wave Preparedness: Children Vulnerability and Recovery’ found, like several other previous related works, while children may not be severely infected by the virus, they may pass it on to others.
The experts have said among their recommendations that “a holistic home care model, immediate increase in paediatric medical capacities and prioritising mental health issues among children” were important at the moment.
A model has been also proposed by the committee that Covid-19 wards could be structured in a way that guardians of infected children could safely live with them during the treatment time.
The World Health Organisation has proposed to start reopening schools in several states across the country and for this the report has suggested micro-management at the district level suggested by WHO in order to ensure safety at educational institutes.
Recently, Union information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur said the central government was fully prepared to deal with a possible third wave and special emphasis is being laid on strengthening paediatric care.
