Thiruvananthapuram: In recent weeks, Kerala has registered more than 50 per cent of the total covid cases in the country. On Diwali day, November 4, Kerala saw 7,545 new COVID cases, against the 12,885 new cases pan-India reported on November 3.
Reflecting this trend, breakthrough infections in the State have accounted for a substantial portion of the daily COVID cases over the past two weeks, suggest government data. Breakthrough infections is a viral or bacterial infection after vaccination.
According to official statistics, 1,19,401 positive cases were reported from Kerala in the past 15 days, from October 19 to November 2. Of these, the data show, 1,00,593 had been eligible for vaccination of which 67,980 (57.9 per cent of the total case count) had got either both doses or a single dose, as per the Indian Express report.
However, experts said that only a tiny fraction of the patients required ICU admission or oxygen beds as vaccination reduced the severity of the symptoms. They also added that breakthrough infections were an expected occurrence in a small percentage of the vaccinated population since no vaccine is 100% effective.
Kerala Health Minister Veena George said the trend of breakthrough infections was anticipated — and pointed out that it also proved that vaccination could prevent the severity of infection.
The Minister said in the last one week, only around 2 per cent of the 77,516 active cases required oxygen beds and about 1.5 per cent needed ICU admission.
In Kerala, 95 per cent of the eligible population have received the first vaccine dose, while 52 per cent have been fully vaccinated.
George said the latest seroprevalence survey suggested that the state’s population got immunity mainly from vaccination rather than infection. In many other states, she said, the high prevalence of antibodies was mainly the result of widespread infections.
Although fully vaccinated persons are still getting infected, deaths caused by Covid-19 among them are rare. In cases where fully vaccinated people succumbed, the victims were either very old or had severe comorbid conditions, she said.
An official said health workers — the first to get fully vaccinated — figured regularly among those getting infected. Vaccination has also given people a false sense of confidence, prompting many to flout Covid protocols, a health official said.
Dr. TS Aneesh, a member of Kerala’s Covid-19 expert committee, told The Indian Express that health and frontline workers, government officials and teachers on election duty were the first to get fully vaccinated.
The data on breakthrough infections among the fully vaccinated has led to suspicion that the immunity level might be going down, Dr. Aneesh said.
Aneesh said in states where natural infection was high, the chances of breakthrough infections were low.
Kerala had immunity from vaccine, leaving the state vulnerable to breakthrough infections. Dr. Aneesh said breakthrough infections showed the health system’s effectiveness. Symptoms in breakthrough infections are very mild. Such cases can only be detected through effective testing, he added.