Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, May 19: The second wave of the coronavirus pandemic has been much more savagely as compared to the first one. The country and its people are tottering under its fierce onslaught. This wave has been unlike the first wave.

Infected persons are struggling to get treatment on time. Hospitals are full and there is shortage of beds and oxygen everywhere. At the same time, coronavirus is expected to renew its attack in the form of the third wave.

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Expert doctors from the city, Devi Shetty and Dr Ravi of NIMHANS have warned about the third wave of Covid. They have said that it is impossible to predict when the third wave will hit the country, but it is almost certain that it will target the children below the age of 12.

The first wave had mainly spread the infection among the elderly people. In the second wave, the disease has mostly targeted the youth. Therefore, the third way is expected to be bothering the children below 12 years of age. The virus is undergoing new mutations and coming up with new variants. These viruses enter new bodies. As already the aged people and the youth have faced the infection, they have better immunity. Therefore, the new infection may inflict miseries on the children, it is guessed.

If the children are infected, the shortage of ICU beds will reach unimaginable levels, the experts have said. If the children get infected, they cannot be let on their own in ICU wards. One of the parents will have to be with them for breast feeding etc. It is also difficult to isolate the children like the elders.

Therefore, there is an urgency for the parents to get vaccinated as early as possible. It is not safe for the parents to live in Covid rooms in the company of the children. If the parents have been vaccinated twice, they can look after the children. So far, there have not been any cases of a person who has got both the doses of the vaccine getting admitted into the ICU. This proves the efficacy of the vaccine against Covid19. Therefore, it is very much important for the parents to get vaccinated within three months from now, the doctors have said.

The Maharashtra government has already created task force for the infected children in the third wave. Companies like Pfizer and Moderna have already been conducting researches into the vaccines which suit the children who are less than 12 years old.