To Study COVID 19 Infection among Healthcare Workers following Vaccination at Tertiary Care Centre

Abstract

Introduction: More than 194 million cases have been confirmed, with more than 4.17 million confirmed deaths attributed to COVID-19 till July 2021, making it one of the deadliest pandemics in history. Since the advent of the disease the only way to contain the spread and prevent infection besides personal precaution was invention of vaccine. Since healthcare workers were at highest risk of exposure to infection, we planned to study whether there were chances of getting infected after vaccination for Covid 19 and if so then when and what was the severity of infection. Materials and Methods: A randomized, cross-sectional online survey was performed from 26 May to 10 June among health care workers in a tertiary care hospital. A self-administered online survey (created with Google Forms) that was circulated via social media platforms. Questions were formatted in binary fashion to the extent possible, with descriptive features added to the section on symptom profile. All quantitative variables are presented as mean and standard deviation, and all qualitative variables in frequency and percentages. All the data were entered in Microsoft excel. Result: Out of 800 HCW’s 520 of them responded to the survey. Prevalence rate was 9.25%. Majority of the HCW had developed symptoms from two week to two months. Disease severity was mild in 46 cases (92%), moderate in 2 cases (4%) and severe in 2 cases (4%). Majority of HCW’s with Covid symptoms post vaccination were Interns (46%), followed by nurses (20%) Faculty (14%) and others. Fever was the most common symptom followed by sore throat, body ache, malaise and cough. OPD basis treatment and home isolation was advised in 37 cases (84%) while 13 cases (26%) required hospitalization. No Mortality was seen. Conclusion: Higher prevalence of disease coincides with the higher exposure rate (surge in the Covid 19 cases). Adequate and timely vaccination could play a major role in fighting with the deadliest pandemic by curtailing transmission rate, severity of the disease and mortality.