Although the immunity is short-lived, Dr Jayadevan highlighted the importance of vaccination. File Photo/ANI
Dr. Jayadevan, co-chairman of the National IMA COVID Task Force, said that additional immune memory from vaccines and surviving natural infections can provide protection against severe disease, but not so much from infection
The country is once again witnessing a surge in Covid cases, which has made some people wonder how effective vaccines, primary, secondary and preventive doses are. According to Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, co-chair of the National IMA Covid Task Force, India’s vaccination coverage is excellent, but the immunity provided is short-lived.
“Vaccination coverage in India is excellent. Furthermore, most individuals have additional immune memory from surviving natural infection, sometimes on multiple occasions. It provides good protection against severe disease in those who become infected. This category of protection is long term and durable. However, the immunity provided is short-lived,” said Dr Jayadevan.
He further said that people become positive even after taking the vaccine.
“Unfortunately the immunity provided by vaccination or natural infection against infection is short-lived, which is why repeated infections continue to occur, especially when we let our guard down and new variants of the virus such as XBB.1.16 appear,” he said.
Jayadevan said vaccines are effective but only in reducing the severity of the infection and not preventing it from occurring. He also underlined that the situation is not worrisome at present. Unlike other variants such as Omicron and Delta, the XBB.1.16 variant is not pathogenic for the lungs, but it is highly infectious. The positivity rate in Delhi and Kerala is not worrying unless the cases are cluster cases or large parts of an area are getting infected; This would put an excessive burden on the hospitals, he said.
Dr. Jayadevan said, “IMA conducted a study where 30% of participants who received the third dose also became infected in the third wave, but also used N95 masks, compared to 45% who did not receive the third dose (group no can) directly compare as this was not a randomized study, but shows that a booster dose does not necessarily prevent a wave).
Although the immunity is short-lived, Dr Jayadevan highlighted the importance of vaccination. He added, “For someone who is vaccinated without this subvariant, it can lead to pneumonia in the person … Therefore, it becomes important for individuals to vaccinate themselves.”
India’s active Covid caseload currently stands at 37,093. In the last 24 hours, 5,676 new cases were registered in the country.
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