At least 69 healthcare workers working with the Apollo Hospital in Delhi tested positive for COVID-19 even after vaccination, and in 48% of these cases, they were infected by the double mutant variant (B.1.617.2) of the virus, the hospital said.
Of the 69 healthcare workers, 51 were fully vaccinated with two doses and the remaining 18 were partially immunised with a single dose, before getting infected.
“The predominant infections occurred from B.1.617.2 lineage (47.83%), followed by B.1 and B.1.1.7 strains. There were only two hospital admissions (2.89%) for minor symptoms, but no ICU admissions and deaths, from this group. These findings are significant because more than half of the cohort were found infected with the Variant of Concern (VoC) and still escaped from the severe illness, which could have been a severe event for them without vaccination coverage,” Dr. Anupam Sibal, Group Medical Director and Senior Pediatric Gastroenterologist of Apollo Hospitals said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
The study was done in collaboration with the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). All the healthcare workers had been inoculated with Covishield vaccine earlier this year, the hospital said.
