ICMR

Delhi, July 07: Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) study revealed that COVID-19 vaccine is effective in preventing deaths in frontline workers. The study conducted among over 1 lakh Tamil Nadu policemen, who have been administered COVID jabs, showed significant results.

ICMR said in a tweet its “study reveals that COVID-19 vaccine is effective in preventing deaths among front line workers.”

 

As per the study, the vaccine showed 82 percent effectiveness on state police personnel who had received single-dose and 95 percent on those who were administered both doses.

The study, done by the state police department, ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology and Christian Medical College, Vellore, was published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research (IJMR).

Among the 1,17,524 police personnel in Tamil Nadu, 32,792 received one dose, 67,673 received two doses while 17,059 did not receive any vaccine dose at all between February 1 and May 14, 2021, it said.

Of the 31 deaths of police personnel between April 13 and May 14 this year “four had taken two doses of the vaccine, seven had taken one dose and the rest 20 were unvaccinated,” it said.

“The incidence of COVID-19 deaths among the vaccinated with zero, one and two doses were 1.17, 0.21 and 0.06 per 1,000 police personnel, respectively. The vaccine effectiveness in preventing COVID-19 deaths with one and two doses was 82 percent (95 percent CI: 57 – 92 percent) and 95 percent (95 percent CI: 85 98 percent) respectively,” it said.

The study further said a ‘cohort’ study conducted among healthcare workers from a tertiary care hospital in the state indicated a strong protective effect of two doses of vaccines against hospitalisation, the need for oxygen therapy and need for ICU care.

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“The analysis, however, has certain limitations as potential confounders including age, comorbidities and previous exposure to COVID-19 infection could not be adjusted for, as the vaccination details were collected as aggregated numbers,” it said.

The study stressed the need to increase vaccine coverage, regardless of the type of vaccines, to reduce mortality in current as well as future waves of the COVID-19 epidemic.