2-4 persons in 10,000 got infected after getting vaccine jab, says govt

Around two to four persons per 10,000 got a “breakthrough Covid infection” even after receiving the vaccine, government data showed. This could have been due to the highly transmissible second wave as well as higher exposure to the virus among the healthcare and frontline workers who have been the major beneficiaries of the initial phase of the vaccination drive.
 
“This is a very small number and not at all worrisome. Vaccines should be used as they prevent severe disease and deaths and infection is reduced,” Balram Bhargava, director general, Indian Council of Medical Research, said.
 
According to the health ministry data, more than 21,000 people tested positive for Covid-19 after taking the first dose of either Covishield or Covaxin, while over 5,600 contracted the infection after taking the second dose.
 
On whether there was a lapse in preparing for and anticipating the second wave of infections that has caught India unawares Rajesh Bhushan, Union health secretary, said, “Today is not the time to get into why or whether we missed or prepared (for the impending second wave). It is time to jointly face the pandemic.” There can be deliberations on these issues with the advantage of hindsight once we have emerged out of it, he added.
 
With several hospitals in Delhi and other cities raising the issue of shortage of oxygen, Bhushan said that the government has increased the supply of medical oxygen to 6,600 metric tonnes and that this would be ramped up further. The country has a capacity of 7,500 metric tonnes of oxygen.

 
“We have issued instructions that, leaving a few industries, the supply of industries will be restricted so that more and more oxygen can be made available for medical use,” Bhushan said.
 
Currently, there are 146 districts that are showing higher positivity of more than 15 per cent, while 274 districts reported case positivity between 5 and 15 per cent. Active cases in the second wave are twice of what India witnessed in the first wave, health ministry data showed.
 
Case fatality rate in the country has declined from 1.45 per cent in January to 1.17 per cent in April. The health ministry also said that the severity, virulence and demography of the victims in the ongoing second wave of Covid-19 were about the same as the first wave.