If there is no new variant, 3rd Covid wave will not be as devastating as 2nd, says Kang

New Delhi

There will not be a third wave of Covid of the size andconsequence the country witnessed during the second wave unless there is a newvariant of coronavirus, top vaccinologist Gagandeep Kang said Friday.



She stressed the need to develop better vaccines that can deal with newvariants, and strengthening of the regulatory mechanisms.

"Unless there is a new variant there will not be a third wave of the sizeand consequences that we saw in the second wave. What we will see is local flare-upswhere there are unprotected populations and where the virus has not beenbefore," Kang said.

The second wave of coronavirus in the country between March and May killedthousands and infected lakhs, overwhelming the health infrastructure.



"Are we done with COVID? No we are not. Are we going to be done withCOVID? Not anytime in the near future," she added. Kang, a professor withChristian Medical College, Vellore, was speaking virtually at the CIILifesciences Conclave.

Last month, Manindra Agrawal, a scientist with IIT-Kanpur who is in thethree-member team of experts tasked to project the surge in cases, had said thecountry may see a third wave peaking between October-November if a morevirulent mutant of coronavirus emerges by September.

Kang said the Indian vaccine industry has been absolutely phenomenal in dealingwith the pandemic, but it still has a long way to go.

"I can't say the same thing (about the regulatory system) as people knowabout our regulatory systems. But it is something we should use as a lesson forthe future because we really really need informed, strong regulators that workwith industries to show what is required," she said.

Kang also stressed the need for a translational research ecosystem of clinicalresearchers that are willing to take risk, and are supported by the governmentand academia.

She said new technologies carry risks and there is a need for a regulatorysystem that is prepared for clinical risks. "We need the academic medicalenvironments that work with the industry to make sure that we can safely testthese interventions in people. We do not have this at this time sostrengthening regulation is key."

She said surveillance diagnostics is still dependent very heavily on imports.The routine PCR kits are being made by many companies in the country but thebest laboratories are not yet using those tests, she observed. "We have torecognise that we need to be thinking about the quality of what we use so thatwe use what we make in diagnostics just as we do in vaccines and in drugs andin terms of sequencing," she said.