One in three Indians believe fourth wave of COVID-19 has started, finds survey

In view of increasing COVID-19 cases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a virtual meeting to assess the situation with chief ministers at 12 noon today, according to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO)

Moneycontrol News

April 27, 2022 / 09:50 AM IST

A girl registers her name before receiving the Corbevax vaccine for COVID-19 at a school in Gauhati, March 16. (Image: AP)

One in three persons believe that the fourth wave of COVID-19 has hit the Indian shores, a survey conducted by community social media platform LocalCircles has found. At least 55 percent surveyed, however, are highly confident that experts in India will be able to effectively handle things in the event of a fourth wave of the pandemic.

The findings released on April 27 come at a time when the daily COVID-19 cases are rising with the epicentre being Delhi and the National Capital region (NCR). The Union Health Ministry said on April 27 that 2,927 COVID-19 cases were recorded across the country in the last 24 hours with a daily positivity rate of 0.58 per cent.

READ | Nine in 10 Indians say most people do not have mask at all or not wearing it properly: Survey

In view of increasing COVID-19 cases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a virtual meeting to assess the situation with chief ministers at 12 noon today, according to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

The LocalCircles survey received 36,000 responses from citizens across 341 districts of India. In response to a question on fourth wave of COVID-19, 34 percent of respondents said it has already started in April, while another 29 per cent said “not likely in 2022” and four per cent said “not for six months at least”.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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