'Chances of getting the disease are not reduced, either after one dose or both doses of the vaccine.' 'And the probability of getting the infection -- you need to differentiate infection from disease -- by getting vaccinated is almost unaltered, be it single dose or two doses.' 'But your chances of developing moderate to severe disease, after getting infected, gets reduced with every dose you receive.'
'Unfortunately, during this pandemic, everybody started saying that well, these are desperate times and desperate times need desperate solutions.' 'Purely out of fear, anxiety, panic, this knowledge that people started acquiring from WhatsApp University and social media, it pushed science completely to the backseat.'
'The second wave was more virulent, more aggressive, more transmissible.'
'Where did this fungus suddenly come from and get all over the country?'
'I try to say to myself, 'Don't cry in front of people'. But sometimes I can't help it.'
'We can't rule out the fact that the virus might have changed in such a way that it's actually causing more harm to young people.'
'Mucor is an environmental fungus, and it's much more prevalent in hot and humid areas.' 'The amount of fungus in the air is much higher in India than some other parts of the world.'
'It is important for all of us to understand to have 1. COVID-19-appropriate behaviour, even after vaccination and 2. to try to increase the vaccination drive.'
'The problem is delaying (or missing) the second dose would probably keep you at a 20 per cent risk of still getting COVID-19, till you are fully immunised.'
'In the second wave, probably due to the mutants, probably due to COVID-19-inappropriate behaviour, we are seeing it coming in the younger population, say from ages 30 to 50.' 'Also, we've seen that sometimes they deteriorate pretty rapidly and therefore we may need to keep a closer watch on the symptoms and on the oxygen levels at home.'
'The only way to contain this is to see that a lesser number of people are affected.'
'Your family, your kith and kin are also under stress, some of your relatives will die, without getting appropriate treatment.'
'...of the non-availability of doctor expertise or appropriate treatment.' 'That's because of the nature of the disease at this point of time, it is very difficult to contain.'
'All the vaccines that are available in most countries, right now, are all highly effective and safe.'
'If you don't have a strong political leadership, however much expertise a country may have, in pandemic preparedness or infectious disease, will not matter.' 'It's really about having strong political leadership, that is proactive, that prioritises taking the right action.' 'And if you don't have that, then you will have a much worse pandemic experience.'
'The government had a vaccine from January.' 'The government should have given the vaccine to all population above the age of 45, right from the start.' 'Each state has its own problems, but as far as vaccine coverage in India is concerned, there have been mistakes.'
'We are already exhausted, but we can't give up.' 'The battle is still on.' 'We will see some respite by December 2021.'
'In spite of all the sermonising from the political class, when they come in public, the ministers don't follow their own rules.' 'They don't mask.' 'If you look at the West Bengal election campaigning, if you look at the Assam election campaigning or if you look at Kerala election campaigning, they are not setting an example.'
'There are only two bottlenecks for universal vaccination.' 'One, is availability of the vaccine.' 'Two, is the logistics for administering the vaccine.'
'People are just putting the mask below their nose.' 'They are only protecting the mouth, but not the nose.' 'People need to understand that it is the nose which has to be protected.'
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