No death reported in those infected with Covid-19 after vaccination, says AIIMS Delhi study

NEW DELHI: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi's first study on breakthrough infections during the April-May period confirmed that none of the vaccinated people died due to the Covid-19 disease.

Breakthrough infection denotes whether one has contracted Covid-19 after being fully vaccinated.

According to the study, in the present group of vaccine breakthrough infections investigated using genome sequencing, closely overlapping and mirroring the Covid-19 cases in the state of Delhi, the variants of concern are B.1.617.2 and B.1.1.7 comprising the majority cases.

While a number of vaccine breakthrough infections have been reported previously, it has been largely associated with non-severe symptoms. During the subsequent course of illness, neither disease worsening (stable biomarkers) nor mortality was reported in the present group, confirming the previous observations.

Out of the 63 breakthrough infections, 36 patients received two doses, while 27 received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. Ten patients received Covishield, while 53 received Covaxin.

"Viral load at the time of diagnosis was high in all the patients irrespective of vaccination status or type of vaccine received and the initial course of disease with high-grade non-remitting fever lasted for five to seven days in the vaccinated group, similar to the clinical presentation in unvaccinated patients," it added.

While a number of vaccine breakthrough infections have been reported previously, it has been largely associated with non-severe symptoms.

The patients had a mean age of 37 (21-92), among which 41 were male and 22 were female. None of the patients had any comorbidities that could act as a predisposing factor for breakthrough infections.

"While antibody levels for a subset of patients were available, they became infected nevertheless and presented to the emergency just like other patients, putting in doubt the protection offered and or clinical relevance of total immunoglobulin G (IgG) as a surrogate of Covid-19 immunity," the report said.

Meanwhile, the Union health ministry informed today that more than 22.41 crore vaccine doses were administered so far under the Covid-19 nationwide vaccination drive.