Vaccination protects 97.4% persons against COVID-19, finds study on healthcare workers

In a key development, a study conducted by the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in Delhi showed that vaccination protects 97.4% of persons against COVID-19. A total of 3235 healthcare workers out of which 2480 received both doses and 755 received a single dose of the vaccine were the subjects of the study. During the study period, only 85 healthcare workers i.e 2.63% of the total sample size were infected with COVID-19 post-vaccination.

This included 65 persons who were fully vaccinated and 20 others who were administered one dose of the vaccine. While all the infected cases had mild symptoms such as cough, fever, loss of taste and smell, only two healthcare workers required hospitalization. Moreover, none of them were admitted to the ICU or died owing to the novel coronavirus. 

However, the study highlighted that the odds of women getting infected was 1.84% higher than men. It explained that this was because of their greater involvement in taking care of patients as nursing personnel. Additionally, it added, "The chances of infection were the highest in the medical and nursing personnel as compared to paramedical, administrative and supportive staff". 

COVID-19 vaccination in India

Apart from Covishield and Covaxin, the DCGI accepted the recommendations of the Subject Expert Committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, paving way for the approval of Sputnik V and Moderna on April 12 and June 29 respectively. Moreover, the Union government declared that those vaccines that have been granted emergency approval for restricted use by USFDA, EMA, UK MHRA, PMDA Japan, or which are listed in WHO (Emergency Use Listing) will be granted emergency use approval in India. In a huge announcement on April 19, the Centre allowed the vaccination of all adults from May 1 onwards.

But, the vaccination drive was adversely affected since May 1 owing to a shortage of doses and the decentralized vaccine procurement policy. Addressing the nation on June 7, PM Modi rolled back this policy and announced that the Centre will procure 75% of the vaccine stock and distribute it to the states for free from June 21. Most importantly, this stock can now be used for all adults and not just those aged above 45.

Without giving a specific deadline, the Centre has hinted that all adults might be vaccinated by December 2021. So far, 100.6 crore doses of Covaxin and Covishield have been ordered out of which 42.52 crore doses have been supplied. A total of 34,30,69,997 persons have been inoculated whereas 9,38,28,100 of them have received the second dose of the vaccine too.