ICMR confirms what 3 years of pandemic showed: Vaccination Protects

August 22, 2023

GS Paper III Science and Technology

Context:

A new study led by the ‘Clinical Studies and Trials Unit’ of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) found that vaccination against COVID-19 before contracting the infection provided around 60 per cent protection against post-discharge death after at least one dose.

Key Findings of Study:

According to the researchers, vaccine effectiveness reduced after 168-195 days but was still around 86 percent.
Overall, the study findings suggest that a post-discharge mortality rate of 6.5 per cent in patients hospitalized for COVID-19 warrants a vigilant follow-up, the study said.
The current analysis additionally showed that the participants younger than 18 years had 1.7 times higher odds of dying after discharge from the hospital.
Post-COVID condition (PCC) was reported in 17.1 per cent of the participants and was linked with 2.7 times higher odds of post-discharge mortality.
- PCC is defined by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as “signs, symptoms, or conditions that persist or develop at four weeks or more after the initial infection”.
As many as 14,419 participants were followed up at least once between four weeks and one-year post-discharge.
- Of the 942 deaths, 175 (18.6 percent) were in the age group of 18-45 years.
A series of three nested case-control analyses were conducted on follow-up data collected in the National Clinical Registry for COVID-19 between September 2020 and February 2023 from 31 hospitals.
- Nested case-control analyses are studies that include diagnosed individuals in comparison to matched controls who have not developed the disease.