NEW DELHI: Amid concerns that many people are contracting Covid-19 in the current surge of the pandemic despite taking jabs against it, the Centre on Wednesday released data to show that the number of such breakthrough infections is negligible.
In a press briefing by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava said that only 2 to 4 in 10,000 Covid infections post inoculations have been seen in India so far, which was minuscule.
He, however, did not elaborate on how many of these infections led to severe disease or deaths.
The reassurance on a few instances of breakthrough infections comes ahead of the major expansion of the ongoing vaccination drive that is set to be opened for all adults in the country starting May 1.
“The narrative on breakthrough infections is distant from reality,” said VK Paul, Member (Health) of Niti Aayog, who heads the National Covid task force.
“The incidence of breakthrough infection is very low. Even if Covid infection occurs after the first and the second dose of the vaccine, it does not cause severe disease. The risk of infection is there which is why masks are important but the risk of severe infection reduces considerably.”
Bhargava pointed out that the available vaccines are most effective mostly after two weeks of the second dose even though immune response could vary from person to person.
The data presented in the briefing showed that out of the 93,56,436 people who received first doses of Covaxin by Bharat Biotech, 4,208 (0.04%) had the breakthrough infection.
The proportion was the same for those who received second doses of the indigenously developed Covid19 vaccine as out of 17,37,178 who got the second and final jab, 695 got the infection.
Similarly of 10,03,02,745 people who received the first dose of Covishield, 17,145 or 0.02% got a breakthrough infection, and out of 1,57,32,754 who got the second dose of this vaccine, 5,014 or 0.03% reported breakthrough infection.
These figures by the Indian government have been released a week after the Centre for Disease Control in the US said last week that it had reports of nearly 5,800 breakthrough infections, out of the nearly 77 million individuals in the country who have been vaccinated.
Experts say that such cases are not unexpected as no vaccine is 100% effective against infection but also say that the government should make public the detailed real-world efficacy data of the vaccines being used.
“It would be good if the government releases detailed real-world efficacy data of the vaccines to show how they are protecting against infections and severe disease and will build confidence in people,” said immunologist Seyed Hasnain.