A small study of health care workers at a private hospital in Delhi found that 13.3% of them (about 1 in 7) had “breakthrough” infections, one of which had to be hospitalized. The study was conducted on staff at the Fortis Center of Excellence for Diabetes, Metabolic Diseases, and Endocrinology in Healthcare and was published in the journal Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews.
What are breakthrough cases?
People who become infected with Covid-19 even after a vaccine shot are known as ‘breakthrough cases’, which means that the infection has broken the protection offered by the vaccine. According to the Union’s Department of Health and Family Welfare, the incidence of such cases has remained low with both vaccines used in India – Covaxin and Covishield.
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How was the study conducted?
The hospital has 123 employees, 113 of whom were vaccinated at the time the study was conducted. The workers included doctors, nutritionists, nurses, paramedics, and maintenance personnel. The healthcare facility caters to patients with diabetes with or without complications, associated metabolic disorders, and patients who do not require emergency surgery.
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The hospital kept a detailed database of vaccinations and Covid-19 infections of all employees from January to this day. All infections after each vaccination dose were recorded. The study was conducted between January 16 and today. Of the 113 participants, 28 had received Covaxin while 85 had been vaccinated with Covishield.
What were the results?
Of the 113 vaccinated patients, 107 were given a second dose. Symptomatic breakthrough Covid-19 infections (more than 14 days after the second dose) were observed in 15 people (13.3% of 113). All were symptomatic with fever and half had a sore throat and cough. “Some had loose movement and loss of smell and taste. The symptoms lasted 3-14 days. With the exception of one person who required hospitalization, all 14 people with breakthrough infections had mild Covid-19 disease, “said Dr. Anoop Misra, chairman of the health facility.
What are the effects?
The researchers concluded that there is a high prevalence of “breakthrough” infections in the healthcare facility. Dr. Misra said: “Covid-19 infections after full doses of vaccine are a major post-pandemic morbidity and can lead to further infections. We need more research and data, especially on people living in shared apartments. A “breakthrough” infection in India after full vaccination should be a major area of research. This is an important area and clearly requires more research. It’s comforting that most of the breakthrough infections in our facility are mild. However, an important problem is that asymptomatic infections have been missed because the RT-PCR test was performed selectively on symptomatic patients. These asymptomatic patients are likely to encourage the spread of viruses. “
