Fortunately, since online classes have been started by the schools in Vizag, most children in this pandemic are not being affected but only a few under 8-9 years age. However, even before the second wave is near an end, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has warned the Centre of a new variant of coronavirus (Covid-19) found in Singapore and said that it can result in India’s third wave. It was also learnt that Singapore is shutting down all schools as the new strain, B.1.617 appears to affect children more. This has created panic among parents in Vizag who are worried about the third wave.
While the first wave last year did not affect the children much and very few had asymptomatic and mild symptoms, the second wave in Vizag has already witnessed few deaths among children. Declaring online classes for all the students helped many children in keeping themselves away from the virus. According to paediatricians in Vizag, most children, though affected, showed mild symptoms. They mostly got affected through family members at home.
“In this pandemic, there are children getting affected and I got a 3-month-old child, but not many children in Vizag are affected and those who were positive had mild symptoms. Few cases of newborns affected due to their mother have been reported. But most of the children recovered a few days after medication,” said Paediatrician Dr B Rama Vani. While there is no such Covid-19 protocol or vaccinations specifically for children, there are countries that have already prepared for vaccination for children. “We heard the news about the third wave being likely to affect children more, but we are still in the second wave which has much-affected youngsters with Happy Hypoxia. Children have so far been in a safe zone as schools have shut down. If there is a threat for children, vaccination at the earliest is one prevention,” said the Paediatrician.
Dr Mounika, another Paediatrician in Vizag said, “We have witnessed few cases of Covid-19 among the children who have mild symptoms but we have seen children showing multi-system inflammatory syndrome after 1-2 months of their recovery. This complication results in fever for children where we have to administer steroids.”
But now that European countries are now seeing more Covid-19 cases among children, there is a worry that the third wave in India might affect children. So far, clinical trials for children are said to be under process and the results are yet to come.
Worrying about their children getting affected by the third wave of the pandemic, even parents hope for vaccination for children in Vizag at the earliest. While vaccination drive for above 45 years is still in progress and the next phase of vaccination is yet to start, parents wonder when children would get vaccinated. “My 5-year-old kid was affected last year due to one of my family members but had mild symptoms and recovered in 5-6 days. Fortunately, online classes this year are saving the children from the pandemic. But there are chances for children being affected by any family member who goes out and cuddles children. Even before the third wave begins, it is better if the children are vaccinated by having a door-to-door vaccination drive,” said Ushasri, a resident of Kirlampudi Layout, Visakhapatnam.
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