Indian Experts Sceptical About US CDC’s Decision To Lift Mask Mandates: Here Is The Reason Behind Change In Guidelines

Last week, the American federal agency, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that people who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 could go without masks in public.

This announcement not only shocked the rest of the world but also became a hotly debated topic.

In India, some experts claimed that CDC’s decision is not scientifically supported.

As per the CDC website, currently, the percentage of the total population vaccinated against the coronavirus caused disease is 37.5, while 47.7 per cent has received at least one dose.

According to a report by India Today, Dr J A Jayalal, who is the president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), said: "Herd immunity is said to be achieved when at least 70 per cent of the population develops antibodies".

He said that in India, at this point relaxing the norms is not possible.

Dr Jayalal claimed that there is “no scientific evidence” so far to support that the US has developed herd immunity against Covid-19.

"The virus strain we are seeing in India is more virulent. The existing vaccines, which had about 70-80 per cent efficacy against the earlier mutations, are only about 40-50 per cent effective against this strain," he said, and added that receiving both the shots may not be enough against the mutated version of the virus.

He also noted that comorbidities and exposure to the mutated coronavirus could still create "serious complications".

While referring to the recent death of former IMA president, Dr Jayalal said "We just lost Dr K K Aggarwal who had been fully vaccinated,” but he developed complications.

He said fully vaccinated people could still spread the virus to others and this is something which the CDC guidelines “seem to ignore”.

Dr Chand Wattal, head of immunology at the Gangaram Hospital, Delhi said that considering the population and the extent of vaccination, the situation in India and the US are different and both cannot be compared.

Dr Wattal said: "Whatever they may be doing, we still have numerous cases. We cannot relax the mandates.”

“In India, people must continue to wear double masks, maintain social distancing," he added.

Why CDC Lifts Mask Mandates

Dr Rochelle Walensky, who is the CDC director, said last week that there were several reports in the literature to demonstrate the safety and real-world effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines.

She highlighted three specific studies which showed the impact of the vaccines on symptomatic and asymptomatic coronavirus infections, as well as another study on the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines against two concerning variants spreading across the country.

These research papers have suggested that vaccines are effective at preventing severe illness, as well as deaths from the infection, and inoculation help prevent people from spreading Covid-19 to others.

One study found that real-life use of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines provided 94 per cent protection for the frontline workers immunised at the beginning of the vaccination programme.

A single dose provided 82 per cent protection, said a CDC-led team in the agency's weekly report.

These studies led the federal agency to make changes in the guidelines.

While defending the decision, on 16 May Walensky told FOX News: “I’m delivering the science as the science is delivered to the medical journals. And it evolved.”

She stressed the fact that increasing political pressure had nothing to do with the sudden shift in CDC guidelines.

However, the guidelines also stated that partially vaccinated or unvaccinated people have to wear masks and it calls for using masks in crowded indoor places such as bus, flights and hospitals.

“There is no mandate to take it off. What we’re saying is, now this is safe,” said the CDC director.

“Work at your own speed, work with your own family and your own businesses to remove them when necessary,” she added.