Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, July 24: Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) today said that the serosurvey of the paediatric population in the Valley would determine the impact of possible third Covid-19 wave on children.
President, DAK, Dr Nisar ul Hassan in a statement said the serosurvey of children will give us a fair estimate of their vulnerability in the predicted third wave.
“Serosurvey involves testing blood samples of individuals for antibodies that are developed after an infection; this will give us an idea about the percentage of the paediatric population who might have developed natural immunity,” he said.
He said that recently, a serosurvey of the general population including children aged 7 to 17 years has been completed in Kashmir, the results of which are awaited. The sample size per district in the age group 7 to 11 was 40 and it was 80 in the 12-17 age group, he said.
“The survey needs to be extended to the age group of 0 to 6 years and the sample size per district should be 500 to 1000 to get a clearer picture of the actual percentage of children who have developed immunity against Covid-19,” he said.
DAK President said that there are speculations that children would be affected more than adults in a possible third wave as this is the population group in which there is no vaccine yet. “However, various serosurveys have dismissed the claim that the next wave will be affecting children exclusively,” he said.
He said that a study conducted by PGI Chandigarh revealed that 69 per cent of children had antibodies against Covid-19.
He said that the data of the two surveys prove that children have acquired natural immunity against the virus and it is highly unlikely that the third wave will affect children more than adults.
“We need to have our data based on which decisions can be made ahead of the feared third wave.”
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