Two Vaccine Doses To Police Personnel Prevented 95% COVID Deaths: ICMR

Two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been highly successful in preventing 95 per cent COVID-19 deaths among "high-risk" police personnel during the Delta variant-driven second wave, according to an ICMR study.

The study, presented by NITI Aayog member Dr V K Paul, assessed vaccine effectiveness among 1,17,524 police personnel in Tamil Nadu.

Out of the analysed policemen, 67,673 have received two doses, and 32,792 received a single dose; 17,059 were unvaccinated.

At a press conference in New Delhi, Paul said that 20 of the 17,059 police personnel who did not get vaccinated died due to COVID-19 complications. At the same time, only seven such deaths were reported among those who had received at least one dose, The Indian Express said.

Only four of the 67,673 personnel who received two doses died.

Paul added that the mortality rate among the unvaccinated police personnel thus comes to 1.17 per thousand, and 0.21 per thousand and 0.06 per thousand among those administered single shot and two shots, respectively.

Vaccine effectiveness among those who received a single dose was 82 per cent and 95 per cent effective with two doses.

"Conclusion is that two doses of vaccine in this study were successful in preventing 95 per cent deaths due to COVID-19. This is in the midst of a second wave driven by the delta variant," Paul said.

'Critical 100 Days Ahead'

Regarding the possibility of a third wave, Paul termed the next three to four months as "very critical" and asked people to take a collective decision to prevent it.

"As the vaccination progresses, we will reach a safe zone in the next 3-4 months. But the next 100-125 days are very critical for us. The system, as well as the people both, will have to act responsibly," Paul said.

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