A vaccine, in August
Like many, one hopes India will be the first to introduce a vaccine for COVID-19, which will be a health milestone, but in a proper manner. Therefore, many are unable to understand why there is such a tearing hurry in India to make a medical miracle happen so quickly at the expense of scientific rigour. ‘Covaxin’ was approved for human trials only recently. When global scientific institutions are still facing an uphill task in zeroing in on a suitable vaccine, is the ICMR’s “shrunk fit” vaccine timeline of almost 41 days realistic (Page 1, “Vaccine deadline meant to ‘cut red tape’, ICMR clarifies, July 5)? The suspicion is that the ICMR appears to be wanting to give those who matter in India’s political set-up a major talking-point in the Independence Day speech on August 15. Overlooking crucial scientific steps should not result in a product deadlier than the disease. It does not matter who is first. Observance of protocol is the need of the hour.
Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee,
Faridabad, Haryana
MMR vaccination
I write this letter as a consultant haematologist. In managing the pandemic, while we have focused on preventive measures, we are yet to pay adequate attention to enhancing individual immunity that is vital to the recovery of those affected. It is a well-known fact that vaccines hold the key in defeating infectious diseases. Most official guidelines for adult vaccination recommend pneumonia, Influenza, Herpes zoster and, more importantly, MMR. Recently, two leading U.S. immunologists, Dr. Paul Fidel and Dr. Mairi Noverr, have suggested that the MMR vaccine can reduce the life-threatening lung inflammation associated with COVID-19 infection. In the early phase of COVID-19 infection, there is a window of opportunity for us to boost our immunity which can be achieved with MMR vaccination. There is recent anecdotal evidence that points to the benefits of MMR vaccination as well — seen in children, and South Korea, Madagascar, and the U.S. Navy. This vaccine can be offered to the all-at-risk population in India and booster doses can be recommended for health-care workers even if they have been immunised in childhood. There should be clinical trials on these lines.
Dr. K. Raghu,
Coimbatore
Private trains
The BJP-led government is quietly, under the cover that the COVID-19 pandemic has given it, passing policy decisions of substantial national import which would otherwise have been subject to public scrutiny, parliamentary discussions and political debate. The latest among these is the involvement of the private sector in the services of Indian Railways. Whether this is desirable is up for debate since in a country like India, the railways are and will remain the common man’s means of transportation, and where the priorities are clean, safe and cheap travel. Obviously this government found that these parameters to be beyond its ability to deliver, if you consider the performance of Indian Railways now.
With the private sector coming in, regular rail services are bound to get hit, which would compound passenger woes. With the emphasis on comfort and add-on services like in the airlines, ticket prices are bound to be on the higher side. This would be akin to the misguided thinking that Indian Railways had sometime ago — of competing with airlines. This did not work for the simple reason that airlines and railways have different classes of passengers as also different reasons for choosing the respective mode of travel. The fare hikes by private trains will also be the excuse for Indian Railways to hike ticket prices, a step which would otherwise attract public and political criticism. Thus the private sector’s entry in running trains is a move to make the railways elitist.
S. Kamat,
Alto Santa Cruz, Goa
