The central government on Tuesday said nearly 0.04 per cent of people who have taken the second dose of Covaxin have tested positive for Covid-19. The percentage of those who tested positive after taking the second dose of Covishield is 0.03 per cent.
This data on infection breakthrough was released by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). It refers to people who were infected with Covid-19 after several days of taking the first or second dose of a vaccine.
“Only 2-4 people per 10,000 population are being infected with Covid-19 post vaccination,” said Dr Balram Bhargava, Director General, ICMR.
Dr VK Paul, member Niti Aayog (health) also said the percentage of people who are getting infected after vaccination is “very low”.
“Even if people are getting infected after vaccination, it is not taking us to the path of severe disease. We are systematically collecting data,” he said.
Covishield has an efficacy of around 70 per cent while Covaxin reportedly has shown an interim efficacy of around 81 per cent in its Phase 3 trials. Efficacy refers to the degree of protection that a vaccine offers against a disease after successful vaccination.
Both Covishield and Covaxin have a two-dose regimen. Experts have said sufficient antibodies are generated only 10-15 days after the person has taken the second dose.
While the government has released data on those who have tested positive post vaccination, it has not revealed the number of days after which the person contracted Covid-19 post vaccination.
What does the data say
The data put out by the government during a press briefing on Wednesday shows Bharat Biotech's Covaxin has been administered to 1.1 crore people in India so far.
Of these, about 93 lakh people have received their first dose and around 17 lakh have received the second dose.
Among the 93 lakh who have received the first dose, 4,208 people have tested positive after taking the shot.
Among the 17 lakh who have taken the second shot, only 695 have tested positive for Covid-19.
The proportion of people testing positive thus is 0.04 per cent after first dose, and 0.04 per cent after the second dose.
For Covishield, the vaccine developed by Oxford University and being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, the data shows that nearly 10 crore people have received its first dose.
Of these, 17,145 have tested positive for Covid-19 after taking the shot.
Besides, more than 1.5 crore people have also received their second dose of Covishield. And among these, 5,014 people have tested positive.
The proportion of people testing positive is 0.02 per cent after the first dose, and 0.03 per cent after the second dose.
Figure will be lower for common people: Dr Paul
Dr VK Paul said these percentages are based on data collected from healthcare workers and frontline workers, who are considered to be ‘at high-risk population'.
“We feel that the proportion of people testing positive after getting vaccinated would be even less among common people,” he said.
Union health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said nearly 87 per cent of health workers and 79 per cent of front-line workers have received their first dose of Covid-19 vaccines so far.
