BENGALURU: Health experts say that Covid vaccines may not be fully effective on people who are obese, a population at greater risk of contracting Covid-19. But more studies are needed to confirm the direct relation between obesity and vaccines, they add.Dr Swati Rajagopal, consultant, Infectious Diseases and Travel Medicine, Aster CMI Hospital, said that obesity does affect the efficacy of vaccines, including the seasonal flu shots. “Obesity affects immune system responses and causes dysregulation.
The effects of vaccines in this category could be different. However, we will need more data to look at responses to Covid vaccines considering that different technologies are used to design vaccines. It would be interesting to see the response to mRNA vaccines like Moderna,” she added.Another doctor said, “When vaccines were given to people with flu or other diseases, they were not as effective in obese adults as they were on thinner people. However, we need to wait.”
In Karnataka, a 43-year-old from Ballari died after taking the vaccine. It was stated that the death was due to myocardial infarction and that he was obese as well.Dr Ravindra Mehta, chief of pulmonology and critical care at Apollo Hospitals, Bengaluru, pointed out that it is important to carry out studies on sub-groups to identify if vaccines work or not among certain groups. “This is the time for people to try and see what Covid vaccine dosage is adequate or optimum for which sub-group. It is said obese people have many medical problems, but we still do not know the efficacy of vaccines on them,” he said.
Dr Sumit Talwar, HoD & Consultant, Bariatric Surgery, General Surgery, Manipal Hospitals, Old Airport Road, said that vaccines can be beneficial to both obese and non-obese people. “The Pfizer vaccine trials were done among all groups and it had shown 95% efficacy. However, there is still a question mark on whether obese people need more doses or not. But they can take the vaccines,” he added.