COVID-19: Fully-vaccinated Patiala doctor infected for 2nd time in a month

Tribune News Service
Patiala, April 17

A fully-vaccinated doctor from Patiala’s Rajindra Hospital has been infected by COVID-19 for the second time in a month, sources said from the hospital said—a development that could possibly pose challenge to a vaccination drive that’s already met with a degree of scepticism over the vaccine’s efficacy.

The doctor, whose identity we’re withholding because she hasn’t consented to being named, tested positive a second time in a month on Friday, the sources said. She received her second dose in February.

She had previously tested positive on March 20 and recovered fully from that bout, even resuming work, the sources said. But when she began showing symptoms again, she got herself tested and was found to be re-infected, the sources said.

Health experts say while re-infection isn’t unheard of, especially given how the virus continues to mutate, the instance does raise questions over how effective the vaccines are in preventing the disease.

Dr Sachin Kaushal, nodal officer of the isolation ward of Government Rajindra Hospital, said: “Given the cases of re-infection, it seems that a new strain of the coronavirus has already spread. However, mutation needs to be studied thoroughly”.

Still, they say that the vaccine could help prevent infections from turning fatal.

Dr Sumeet Singh, the district epidemiologist, said the district health department had recorded only 12 cases of COVID-19 re-infection.

“People could test positive for the coronavirus even after both doses, but it will be less severe,” he said.