“It is a piece of misinformation that subsequent waves of the COVID-19 pandemic are going to cause severe illness in children. There is no data - either from India or globally - to show that children will be seriously infected in subsequent waves.”  This was categorically stated by Director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi, Dr. Randeep Guleria, during a media briefing on COVID-19, held at the National Media Centre in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Dr. Guleria cited that 60% to 70% of the children who got infected and got admitted in hospitals during the second wave in India, had either comorbidities or low immunity; healthy children recovered with mild illness without need for hospitalization.

Dr Guleria explained why waves occur in any pandemic. Waves normally occur in pandemics caused due to respiratory viruses; the 1918 Spanish Flu, H1N1 (swine) flu are examples, he said. “The second wave of 1918 Spanish Flu was the biggest, after which there was a smaller third wave.”

When a large part of the population acquires immunity against the infection, the virus becomes endemic and infection becomes seasonal – like that of H1N1 that commonly spreads during monsoon or winters, he said. 

 Dr. Guleria warned: “Whenever cases increase, there is a fear in people and human behaviour changes. People strictly follow COVID Appropriate behaviours and non-pharmaceutical interventions help break the chain of transmission. But when unlocking resumes, people tend to think that not much infection will happen and tend to not follow COVID appropriate behaviour. Due to this, the virus again starts spreading in the community, leading potentially to another wave.”

He said that "if we have to stop subsequent waves, we need to aggressively follow COVID appropriate behaviour until we can say that a significant number of our population is vaccinated or has acquired natural immunity. 

“When enough people are vaccinated or when we acquire natural immunity against the infection, then these waves will stop. The only way out is to strictly follow COVID appropriate behaviour”, he stated.

(SAM)