COVID-19 vaccines effective for few years, says K’taka COVID Task Force member

Bengaluru: According to virologist Dr V Ravi, a member of the Karnataka COVID-19 Task Force, the anti-COVID-19 vaccines presently in existence are effective only for a few years and if more variants of the novel coronavirus emerge then its effectiveness might be only for a year.

Dr Ravi was speaking at a webinar organised by the Karnataka Women Journalists’ Association on Saturday.

He said that further research is needed to find the precise duration of vaccines effectiveness which can be done by frequently conducting genomic sequencing of the novel coronavirus.

Dr Ravi reiterated that a third wave of the pandemic is inevitable and all preparations must be done to tackle it adding that children will be particularly vulnerable.

“Countries in Europe are experiencing the third wave, whereas the US is in the beginning phase of the fourth wave,” he said.

“All large gatherings must be prevented to mitigate the severity of the third wave,” he added.