Two doses of COVID-19 vaccine give 98 percent protection from death: Indian gov’t

NEW DELHI: JULY 4 – The Indian government said on Saturday two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine provide around 98 percent protection from death due to the disease, while one dose gives nearly 92 percent safety.

The details were given by V K Paul, member (health) of the government think-tank National Institution for Transforming India (NITI ) Aayog (commission) during a media briefing in New Delhi.

Paul quoted a study conducted on police personnel in the northern state of Punjab by the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh in collaboration with the local government of Punjab.

The study quoted by Paul revealed 4,868 police personnel were not vaccinated and out of them, 15 died due to COVID-19 infection, which comes down to 3.08 incidence per thousand.

“Then out of 35,856 police personnel who were administered one dose, nine died, which translates to 0.25 per thousand. A total of 42,720 received both doses of the vaccine and out of them two died, which translates to 0.05 incidence per thousand,” he said.

“From these numbers, we find that one dose offers 92 percent protection from death while both doses give 98 percent protection.”

Police personnel falls into the high-risk group.

Paul said such studies and their findings showed that vaccination eliminates serious diseases and deaths.

“So have faith in the vaccines as they are effective,” he said.

-XINHUA