‘World inching forward to elusive herd immunity’

The online world was buzzing as consultant chest physician Zarir F Udwadia ZFU as he is sometimes known spoke at a webinar moderated by wellknown physician Dr Tushar Shah The online meet under the aegis of a host of organisations was titled lsquoOmicron Update Beginning of the end or end of the beginningrsquoMuscular mobileDr Udwadia began ldquoOur world has been battered for two years by the pandemic We have vacillated between hope and despair We are at a very strange and different place compared to where we were in 2020 This virus has a lot of unfinished business with us We can hope that the might of science will help us to keep us abreast Three days after Omicron was announced the WHO labelled it a Virus of Concern the most exalted title a virus can aspire to It has been reported in 140 countries in two months including a remote Antarctica substation Once a virus takes off there is no stopping itrdquoTesting timesPointing to this variant which is ldquohorribly mobilerdquo the doc stated that it was ldquoreasonable to assume that the vast majority if not all the new cases you encounter in the latest wave are Omicronrdquo He added that Rapid Antigen Tests will increasingly be resorted to as pressure increases on RT PCR ldquoWhen using a RAT at home use a quality assured FDA kit Bugbear of RAT is that they have a high false negative rate especially in Omicron If somebody tests negative on a home antigen test then he could still be positive on an RTPCR If he is positive then there is no doubt Isolate if you have symptoms for at least three to five daysrdquoDark lsquonrsquo lightIt was not all dark though Dr Udwadia managing patients at three top Mumbai hospitals added ldquoOmicron is less severe than Delta This is just not the same disease as seen earlier We have to ask is the virus itself intrinsically milder or is it that the population itself which is protected by vaccinationor immune from prior infection that is making it so Nobody knows the answer but scientists are working feverishly to find out Deaths from COVID19 are at their lowest globally than at any time in the pandemicrdquoThat bright spot though was followed by a warning from Dr Udwadia that there is ldquono cause for complacency Even a small number of sick or deaths is significant when numbers infected are so huge The head of nursing at one of the Mumbai hospitals I work at told me recently that 103 nurses are sick from COVID So who is going to do cancer care or look after dialysis patientsrdquoThe antibodyThe doc did acknowledge the huge immune escape scope of this ldquowily variantrdquo but he added ldquoVaccines retain their efficacy against severe infection hospitalisation and death I am tired of people asking me which vaccine should they take Be grateful that you have had any vaccine Antibodies and antibody levels are not the sole correlates of immunity Antibody is just one of the dishes in the buffet of dishes measuring your immunity It may not be the main dish at all but it may be the simplest to measure and that is why we are so focused on it Boosters definitely do help Today Israel is giving a fourth dose but boosters are also a sign of inequality Vaccinating the whole world is not only morally but also the strategically right thing to do There should be no dichotomy between vaccinating your own country and vaccinating the world as that can prevent mutations When will politicians realise that they need to look beyond their narrow bordersrdquoThe endAt the end of an extensive session Dr Udwadia advocated masking up with an N95 for precaution and home treatment ldquofor a majority of patients with a few exceptions thoughrdquo He also said to people who are asking him for some good news that ldquoThe Omicron outbreak in SA South Africa is on the decline already As millions are infected by Omicron the world inches forward to that elusive concept of herd immunityrdquoThe poet T S Eliot said in his poem The Hollow Men ldquoThis is the way the world ends not with a bang but with a whimperrdquo In the same way Dr Udwadia said as he closed a riveting presentation though there are no timelines ldquoThe pandemic will end because all pandemics burn out in the end not with a bang but a whimperrdquo The world cannot wait for that prophecy to come true4kApprox no of Omicron cases in the country