India Coronavirus Dispatch: Is it OK to take painkillers after Covid shot?

Why poor communication from vaccine makers is cause for concern, Pune and Chennai to conduct a study on reinfections, and more-news relevant to India's fight against Covid-19

Active cases rise for the twentieth straight day

 

India reported 56,211 fresh coronavirus infections on Tuesday, taking the cumulative caseload to 1,20,95,855, according to a report in the Scroll. The daily cases were slightly lower than the figure reported on Monday which was the highest in five months. The country saw 271 deaths due to the pandemic, taking the death toll to 1,62,114, according to central health ministry data. The active caseload is at 5,40,720, while the total recoveries have surged to 1,13,93,021. Active cases rose for the twentieth straight day. As many as 6,11,13,354 people have been inoculated since the nationwide inoculation programme kicked off on January 16. Read more here 

 

Explained: Should one be taking painkillers before or after a dose of Covid vaccine?
 

Do not take painkillers before a shot in order to prevent symptoms, but it is all right to use them post-vaccination after consulting with a doctor, an explainer in the Associated Press says. The concern about painkillers is that they might hamper the very immune response a vaccine will try to spur. Vaccines work by tricking the body into thinking it has been infected by a virus and therefore mount a defence against it. This may cause temporary arm soreness, fever, muscle pain and other symptoms of inflammation. These are signs the vaccine is doing what it is supposed to do, the report said. Read more here 

 

OPINION: Poor communication from vaccine makers is cause for concern
 

The way in which some vaccine makers have communicated their progress has done no favours to the effort to improve vaccine hesitancy, an opinion column in the Times of India said. In particular, British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca—which developed Covishield that is being administered in India—has scored several self-goals time after time. The firm has jeopardised the reputation of what otherwise looks like an excellent vaccine. The latest controversy around its claimed efficacy of 79%, the rebuke that it got from US health regulators that it was sharing dated information, and against the clarification just 48 hours later that it was actually 76% is impossible to comprehend, the opinion piece said. Read more here 

 

Pune, Chennai to conduct a study on reinfections

 

Amidst a sharp surge in coronavirus cases across the country, two cities Chennai and Pune that saw high caseloads last year and are witnessing a resurgence in cases, are conducting studies to assess if people are getting reinfected by the virus, a report in The New Indian Express said. The authorities will look for "IgG" antibodies in fresh cases in the two cities. The presence of these antibodies will confirm the history of exposure to the virus earlier. This is the first time such an exercise is being undertaken in the country, the report said. Read more here 

 

Covid-19 antibody levels, immunity duration vary in people: Study

 

A new study published in the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet has shown that the antibody levels and how long immunity lasts in people who recover from Covid-19 vary, a report in The New Indian Express said. Titled ‘Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 neutralising antibody responses and duration of immunity: A Longitudinal Study’, the study monitored neutralising antibodies in patients up to six months after the onset of symptoms. Read more here