Saturday, September 18, 2021

No need to vaccinate Covid recovered, say Indian scientists

No need to vaccinate people once infected by Covid? Why experts suggest this | Hindustan Times - Poulomi Ghosh, ed.:

June 11, 2021 - "The Union health ministry's latest guideline said those who tested Covid positive should wait for three months after recovery to get vaccinated, as they have natural antibodies present. However, a group of public health experts, which includes doctors from AIIMS and the members of Covid-19 national task force, has suggested that there is no need to vaccinate people who had documented Covid-19 infection.... According to the Indian experts' report, there is not enough evidence that vaccine is beneficial after natural infection. 'There is no need to vaccinate people who had documented Covid-19 infection. These people may be vaccinated after generating evidence that vaccine is beneficial after natural infection,' the report said.

"As the objective of the vaccination drive should be to control the disease, those who have been already infected should not be the priority, as they are naturally protected, the report suggested. Is the suggestion of keeping once-infected people out of vaccination for now influenced by vaccine crunch? Yes, the report clarified that the present situation of the pandemic in the country demands that prioritisation instead of opening it to all. 'Moreover, we can conserve considerable resources if we exclude adults who have recovered from natural infection,' it said."

Read more: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/covid19-vaccine-no-need-to-vaccinate-people-once-infected-by-covid-why-experts-suggest-this-101623389249657.html


Vaccines May Do More Harm Than Good To Those Recovered From Covid-19: Experts | Outlook - Jeevan Prakash Sharma:  

August 10, 2021 - "A section of infectious disease experts in India believes that vaccines have no benefits to ... individuals who have naturally recovered from Covid-19. Instead, it might cause some harm.... Deaths, blood clotting or other health complications have been reported due to [vaccination] from across the world and health experts say that it has nothing to do with any deficiency in the safety aspects of approved Covid-19 vaccines. 'Even a good vaccine can cause health complications due to adverse side effects as each human body responds to inoculation differently' ... an epidemiologist associated with the government said requesting not to be named. He added, 'This is true with all vaccines and vaccination programmes ever introduced in human history'....

"Dr Sanjay Rai, Professor, Community Medicine in All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, says that all available evidence demonstrates that the natural infection provides better and longer protection that may even be lifelong. 'There is no need to vaccinate individuals who had documented COVID-19 infection in the past'... Dr Rai said. He added, 'Based on the available shreds of evidence, we can say that there is no additional benefit of vaccination in COVID recovered individuals.  Actually, it may cause harm due to few known and unknown severe adverse events following immunization.' Dr Rai also believes that vaccines are precious resources that should be used to save other vulnerable persons' lives rather than wasting them on well-protected individuals.

"Noted epidemiologist Dr Jayaprakash Muliyil, who is a core member of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI), agrees that vaccinating a confirmed Covid-19 recovered person doesn’t have any additional benefit 'but there is some small chance of adverse reaction'.... 'A reliable test of antibody can ... establish if a person is a confirmed Covid-19 recovered case,' Dr Muliyil said. He added, 'At present, the available evidence suggests that natural infection is superior to vaccination. So in retrospect, it is a good and convenient way to say who needs vaccination and who doesn’t.'

"As the current vaccination drive in India doesn’t have any provision to exclude naturally-recovered persons, a lot of such people say that they have to get vaccinated even if they didn’t want because they were under pressure from their employers. Some of them have to go abroad and many countries have made vaccination a pre-requisite condition for issuing a visa as they still believe that vaccinated individuals don’t spread infection. This is contrary to the growing evidence that a vaccinated person can be a spreader of infection....

“'There is a wrong notion among many doctors that natural immunity is transient. It is because, during the initial days of Covid-19, the World Health Organisation had made this baseless statement which many doctors still believe to be true,' a senior government doctor said."

Read more: https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-vaccines-may-do-more-harm-than-good-to-those-recovered-from-covid-19-experts/390974

Read report here: https://www.iphaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/4th-Joint-Statement-of-IPHA-and-IAPSM-for-COVID-19-containment-plan_June-6-2021_Final-4.pdf

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