BENGALURU: A staggering 75% of people who are unvaccinated, or are vaccinated with one dose, have landed up in High Dependency Units (HDU) and 78.5% in the Intensive Care Units of hospitals over the past 14 days, as per data from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike. Among 57 admissions in the HDU, 43 (75%) are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated. Among the 51 ICU admissions, 48 (78.5%) are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.
BBMP officials say the message is straight — those who are not vaccinated tend to get more severely infected. “One needs to get vaccinated to avoid reaching the severe stage. The idea is to vaccinate the entire population. We have been carrying out awareness drives and are even door-to-door vaccination. We are reaching out to people in markets and slum areas,” said Randeep D, Special Commissioner (Health), BBMP.
While it is assumed that unvaccinated individuals do not land in HDUs and ICUs, some individuals who were “fully vaccinated” were also admitted in ICUs and HDUs. Eleven fully vaccinated individuals— comprising 21.5% of the 51 individuals— were admitted in the ICU, while out of 57 patients in HDU, 14 (25%) are fully vaccinated.
However, experts point out that the small number of admissions of fully vaccinated individuals is not a sign of worry, what one needs to focus on is to get both shots on time and not delay getting vaccinated.
Dr Anoop Amarnath, member, state’s Critical Care Support Team and Head, Scientific Board and Chairman-Geriatric Medicine, Manipal Hospitals, said, “The ones who got both doses are usually the ones with multiple or severe comorbid illnessesThe time duration between the second side of vaccination and hospitalisation is also something that needs to be looked into— as optimum protection is gained about 2 to 3 weeks past the second dose.”
Randeep said they are checking on the age and comorbidities of the fully vaccinated, and the time of their infection from the second dose. “We are analysing this to find the cause. So far, there have been no deaths among the double-vaccinated.”