Nagpur: Five city doctors from government and private hospitals have tested positive for novel coronavirus even after taking first dose of the vaccine. Three of them tested positive after 13-17 days of taking the jab while two others tested positive within a week. All five had done RT-PCR tests also.
The development has drawn sharp reaction among experts who feel these cases are a reminder that even after vaccination people can get the infection and that the vaccines doesn’t start working instantly.
Two doctors from Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), one from the pharmacology department and other from the paediatrics department tested positive on February 5.
A 49-year-old associate professor from the pharmacology department had taken the first dose of Covaxin on January 19 which was fourth day after launch of the vaccination drive. His wife runs a pathology laboratory and had symptoms. She tested positive so he and his daughter (14) also got the test done and came positive. Both are asymptomatic.
“I came positive after 17 days of taking vaccine. I am not having any symptoms despite tested positive 12 days ago. It is still a part of research whether vaccine prevented symptoms or not,” the doctor said.
A 42-year-old assistant professor from the paediatrics department had symptoms so got the test done and came positive on February 5. He took the jab of Covaxin on January 20 which means he came positive after 16 days of taking the vaccine.
A 76-year-old senior orthopaedic surgeon from a private hospital took first dose of Covishield on January 28. He had symptoms so got tested and his results were positive on February 10 which is after 13 days of taking the jab.
Two women general physicians from a private hospital of which one 28-year-old and other 40-year-old had symptoms and were tested positive. The 40-year-old doctor took Covishield’s first dose on February 3 and came positive on February 9. The 28-year-old doctor was administered first dose of Covishield on February 9 and came positive on February 14.
Meanwhile, AIIMS New Delhi director Dr Randeep Guleria, in reply to a city lawyer Ankita Shah’s query, did not rule out chances of contracting disease even after sufficient amount of antibodies developed after taking the vaccine. “The vaccine will protect everyone. Some may not have infection or few may have mild disease. But that disease will not be severe and you may not land up in hospital or ICU. Therefore, everyone should take the vaccine which will help in breaking chain of transmission and control death rate,” he said.
The ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) also said in Shah’s reply that protective levels of antibodies generally develop after two weeks of receiving second dose. In another query, the ministry had said overall efficacy of Covishield vaccine was 70.42% while that of Covaxin would be available in due course of time. “Available data has shown that Covaxin produces good amount of protective antibodies,” the MoHFW said.
Infectious disease specialist Dr Nitin Shinde told TOI, “It is throughout Vidarbha and also the state. I got queries from many such healthcare workers across the state. It is very clear that good amount of antibodies develop after taking second dose in those who were not infected with the disease earlier,” he said.
He further said there are no chances of side effects if test positive after taking the vaccine. “I think natural infection as well as the vaccine will help in developing antibodies. Therefore, this should not come in anyone’s mind that there are no advantages of the vaccine. Several advantages of the vaccine have been proved on record,” he said.
Deputy director of health services, Nagpur division, Dr Sanjay Jaiswal said directives have been given to all districts to report such cases. “Sufficient antibodies develop after 45 days of taking the vaccine. Therefore, all should continue following guidelines after taking the jab,” he said.
General surgeon Dr Deepak Deshmukh said, “There are all chances that one may contract disease even after developed full antibodies. Two vaccines rolled out in India were given emergency use authorization so still many questions are unanswered. It is also not clear whether these vaccines protect from mutated variants. Therefore, all should continue to take care even after taking the vaccine,” he said.