Covid infection after vaccination a possibility, should we be worried?
Health experts suggest that vaccination still works because it minimizes the effects on people who have taken both doses
Yes, despite taking both doses of the vaccine, one cannot rule out the possibility of getting infected by Covid-19. Many healthcare workers are getting infected even after a month of getting the second dose of vaccination. So does this raise questions on whether the vaccine is effective? No.
Several doctors have been saying that no vaccine in the world has been deemed disease-proof so far. This means that no vaccine gives 100% immunity. Also, there is something called a window period which is the time between when the vaccine is given and when it comes into effect and immunity kicks in.
The efficacy of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin is 78%, which indicates that there is still a 22% chance you may get the infection. Covishield’s efficacy in best case scenario is 82.4%
US-made vaccines Pfizer and Moderna are roughly 95% effective in preventing infection 14 days after the final shot. That means there’s a 5% chance you’ll still get infected.
Johnson & Johnson vaccine was 66% effective against infection meaning there’s a 34% chance of infection.
What we also need to consider is that all vaccines do not cover all the strains and the new strains may keep appearing. Therefore, there may be instances of people who get infected despite taking vaccines but they might have a mild or moderate form of the disease.
Health experts suggest that vaccination still works because it minimizes the effects on people who have taken both doses.
Medical experts have termed such instances “breakthrough cases” whereby a fully vaccinated person gets the disease they are vaccinated for.
Pfizer and Moderna are currently studying data that should indicate how often vaccinated people become infected by the virus, even if they have no symptoms.
Doctors have also constantly been warning that people should not stop taking precautions even after being vaccinated. One still needs to follow COVID precautions like hand hygiene, sanitisation, and social distancing.
For those still questioning the need for the vaccine every six or twelve months, Dr Samiran Panda from ICMR told Money9 that citizens may need the shots annually as new variants and new mutants may keep coming but this does not mean the vaccines don’t work. They are working quite effectively and also help reduce the severity of the infection.