The All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), New Delhi, has conducted a study on individuals who tested Covid-19 positive after vaccination and revealed that there was no fatality. The study was conducted during April-May when the second wave of the pandemic was at its peak.
Ten of the 63 participants in the trial — 41 men and 22 women — were given Covishield, while the other 53 were given Covaxin. Two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were given to 36 patients, and at least one dose was given to 27 persons. The patients ranged in age from 21 to 92 years old and had no comorbidities.
“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,” the report said.
The study discovered that the Covid-variants B.1.617.2 and B.1.1.7 were the two variants of concern in cases of breakthrough infection, which occurs when someone develops Covid-19 while being fully or partially vaccinated.
Even in vaccinated patients, viral load, or the total number of viral particles in a given volume of fluid, was high at the time of diagnosis, and they also reported a high temperature that lasted 5-7 days, comparable to symptoms in unvaccinated patients.
“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 added.
Infections among vaccinated people have also been documented in the United States. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 9,000 people were affected after being vaccinated at the end of April.
