As many as 75.25 per cent of 2724 people who succumbed to the second wave of Covid and 53 per cent of the 91 in Goa who lost their lives in the current wave were found to be unvaccinated. These statistics prove that vaccines though not a a silver bullet for the virus prevent death to a large extent, reduce the severity of the infection and need for intensive medical intervention. But mutant strains, particularly the sub-variant BA-2 are upping the toll as witnessed when the state recorded 15 deaths. Even though 98.55 per cent of the Goan population has been fully vaxxed, we cannot afford to be complacent. The WHO has already issued an advisory to the effect that the next variant of the disease (and God knows how many more ) will be more transmissible and super contagious. Though 11 billion doses of the vaccine, which is twice the volume of the total global vaccine market in pre-Covid 2019 have already been distributed, the contagion has not been contained. The virus always seems to be two steps ahead of countermeasures. As of now all that we can do is to get fully vaxxed including taking the booster dose if eligible and observe Covid-appropriate behaviour at least till such time the disease subsides significantly... or so we hope.
