Covid-19: Single dose vaccine not enough to provide significant protection: Study

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A single dose of the Covid-19 vaccine may not provide enough protection against the infection to the patients who suffer from severe infections, according to a new study conducted by a private hospital in Delhi.

A study conducted by Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi has concluded that a single dose of a Covid-19 vaccine is not enough to provide substantial protection against severe infection or to the symptomatic patients, according to a report in The Times of India. The study was conducted by the leading hospital on Covid-19 infections on its healthcare workers between March-May during the devastating second wave.

The findings of this study have been published in the European Journal of Internal Medicine.

Single-dose of vaccine provides very little protection

The lead author of the report, Dr. Ruma Satwik said that their study on the effectiveness of vaccines showed that a single dose provided very little protection against symptomatic infections and the risks of evolving severe symptoms which often leads to death.

The study showed the occurrence of symptomatic infection in people who had received the first dose was 12.3% after 21 days of getting the jab, compared to 13.9% in unvaccinated people. Close to 2% of the partially vaccinated subjects showed the emergence of severe symptoms while 0.7% needed supplemental oxygen support after being infected by Covid-19. Compared to this, 3.3% of the unvaccinated subjects showed moderate to severe symptoms and 1.7% needed oxygen.

The study concluded that there was very little difference between the unvaccinated group and the partially vaccinated group as far as the susceptibility to infection was concerned.

The study was conducted on 4,296 healthcare employees of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. As of April 30, 2,716 out of the total had received both doses of Covishield, 623 had received one dose while 937 didn’t receive any dose.

In the period of the study between March 1 and May 31, 526 healthcare workers or 13% of the 4,276 tested positive for Covid-19. Out of that, 2% were asymptomatic, 5% had a severe infection and 10% showed moderate symptoms while 82% had mild symptoms.

Six healthcare workers lost their lives, out of which five were totally unvaccinated while one had received a single dose. No mortality was reported from the group of fully vaccinated people. The study also showed that several people got infected despite receiving both doses.