Vaccines No Guarantee Against COVID-19, But Save Serious Hospitalization & Deaths

Class IV staffer Biranchi Nayak receives the first Covid-19 vaccine at Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: With eyebrows being raised over news of several doctors getting infected with COVID-19 despite having taken two doses of the vaccine, some experts have pointed out that the goal of the vaccines is to prevent serious hospitalization and deaths. Also, no vaccine has a 100 per cent efficacy rate.

However, all vaccines were found to be 100 per cent effective in preventing deaths during the trials.

After vaccination, the likelihood of someone becoming very sick, that is, requiring serious hospitalization, is almost zero, said Dr Kimberly Manning, Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta in a video interview with PBS. She also pointed out that it takes around two weeks after the 2nd dose to achieve full immunity.

This was echoed by Dr PK Gupta, former president of IMA Lucknow. after 40 doctors in the city tested positive despite having taken two doses of the vaccine. “There is a possibility of people testing positive for COVID-19 despite taking the vaccine, but the intensity of the virus would be less,” explained Gupta.

Director of Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr RK Dhiman, who tested positive post-vaccination, also said the same thing. The vaccine is very effective in preventing hospitalization as well as deaths, he pointed out.

Patients can get mild symptoms, but are protected against the severity of the disease, he added.

Dr Paul Offit of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia told CNN, “The goal is to keep people out of the hospital, the ICU and the morgue”.

Also Read: Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine 100% Effective In Preventing COVID-19 Deaths: US Trial