A latest survey by LocalCircles, which is a community social media platform, shows that citizens have reported a rise in prevalence of severe medical conditions in their close network.
The study received over 32,000 responses from citizens located in 357 districts of India. Nearly 51% of citizens surveyed have had one or more individuals in their close network facing a severe medical condition. The ailments ranged from heart attack, brain stroke, neurological complications, cancer acceleration to other sudden conditions.
The survey indicates both unvaccinated and vaccinated people have been impacted. 62% citizens said those in their network developed such conditions were fully vaccinated; 11% said that those impacted were partially vaccinated while 8% said they were not vaccinated.61% of the respondents said their contacts with severe medical conditions had COVID once or more. 28% said their contacts who experienced severe medical conditions never had Covid and 31% of citizens surveyed had one or more in their network with severe medical conditions in November 2021 which rose to 51% citizens in November 2022.
The survey asked questions like how many individuals are there in your family or close network (extended family, friends, neighbours, colleagues)? Do you know anyone who has experienced heart or brain stroke, blood clots, neurological complications, cancer acceleration or other sudden medical conditions in the last two years?
Out of nearly 11,000 respondents, 40% stated “No one, thankfully” and 9% did not give a clear response to the second question. In the case of the remaining 51% respondents, 23% indicated 2-4 individuals; 11% stated 5-10 individuals; 17% indicated one individual.In effect, more than half the respondents knew at least one or more individuals who are suffering due to COVID aftereffects. This is a high percentage which clearly indicates that the prevalence of these severe conditions is very much a reality.
LocalCircles Founder Sachin Taparia said the need of the hour is for the Government to take extensive research on these severe medical conditions and study this in the context of impact of COVID, its variants and vaccines.
“All of this will bring some clarity to the issue as to what are some of the root causes behind these severe medical conditions.It will also enable us to get better prepared for what could be coming. So that the COVID management, vaccination strategy and equipping the health infrastructure to handle these severe medical conditions could be done more effectively,’’ he added.
