New Delhi: A single dose of any Covid vaccine is 96.6 per cent effective in preventing mortality, while with two doses the effectiveness goes up to 97.5 per cent, analysis by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has found. The analysis looked at the outcome of all vaccines administered in India till 15 August, about 54.58 crore doses.
The ICMR analysis is important because it is based on real-world data and also because India has among the longest gaps between two doses of the Covishield vaccine — 12 to 16 weeks. In most countries, the dose gap is in the four to six weeks range, though there have been some recent studies that found that immunogenicity is boosted if the gap is as high as 11 months (44 weeks).
India has been administering Covishield, Covaxin, and some amounts of Sputnik V, though Covishield forms the bulk of the vaccine doses administered. The ICMR is also in the process of putting together a Covid-19 vaccine tracker, by integrating data from the CoWin portal, its own testing database, and the health ministry’s website.
“The data shows that the effectiveness of the first dose in preventing mortality is 96.6 per cent and for the second dose it is 97.5 per cent. It works across all age groups, that is why we are appealing to everybody to get vaccinated. We are also looking at reinfections and breakthrough infections, but we are not worried about breakthrough infections per se because these are disease-modifying vaccines. Contracting the disease either after first dose or after both doses may happen, but the outcome will not go to serious disease,” ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava said, during the Centre’s Covid briefing.
Dr Bhargava also advocated low key celebrations in view of the upcoming festive season. “Responsible travel rather than revenge travel should be practised and masks should be used at all times,” he said.
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‘No evidence to delay school opening’
Even though there has been a lot of debate recently among parents and experts about the prudence of opening schools at a time when vaccinations for children have not yet started, Dr V.K. Paul, member (health) NITI Aayog was emphatic that there is no scientific evidence that calls for delaying school openings till a vaccine is available for children.
“Children should be vaccinated, but which of them need it is an evolving scientific and public health discourse. Only some nations have moved in that direction. We are working actively for scientific validation of vaccines for potential use in children. Zydus is already licensed. Experts are looking at the data. Covaxin trial is on in children. We need to wait for what experts decide,” Dr Paul said at the briefing.
He added: “But there is no precedent anywhere in the world that school opening should be delayed till vaccines come. Schools were opening when there were no vaccines on the horizon. No scientific evidence, no epidemiology suggests that it should be a criteria. However, teachers need to be vaccinated … it’s is also desirable that staff are vaccinated. We have exerted towards that and there is a very high coverage.” He also said that vaccination of parents is very important.
The conditions in which schools open, are crucial, he added. It is important for classes to be held in open, well-ventilated spaces and in a staggered manner, he said, and that there is checking of these SOPs and masks are being used.
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September vaccine average 78.10 lakh doses daily
India has so far crossed the one crore-per-day mark in vaccinations thrice, but there has been a significant increase in the average vaccinations per day in the current month, it was mentioned at the briefing. September has so far seen 78.10 lakh doses being administered every day, against an average of 59.19 lakh doses per day in August.
So far, 84 per cent health workers, 80 per cent frontline workers and 18 per cent adults in the country are fully vaccinated, the briefing mentioned.
Only one state, Kerala, currently has over one lakh active cases. The state accounts for over 60 per cent of India’s active cases.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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