Pune: Armed Forces Medical Services Publish Largest Study On COVID Vaccine Effectiveness

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Pune, 27 July 2021:

The Armed Forces Medical Services published what is possibly the largest study worldwide on COVID Vaccine effectiveness in their peer reviewed journal – Medical Journal Armed Forces India.

Surg Vice Admiral Rajat Datta, Director General Armed Forces Medical Services and co-author of the study said, “On 16 Jan 2021, India launched its vaccination drive against COVID-19. Among the first recipients were 1.59 million Health Care Workers and Frontline Workers of the Indian Armed Forces, who were administered COVISHIELD vaccine. The VIN-WIN cohort study was carried out on anonymized data using the existing surveillance system. By end May, over 82% of the Armed Forces population had been fully vaccinated and we present the results in this study. This is possibly the largest Vaccine effectiveness study and reflects extensive teamwork between multiple specialists in the Armed Forces Medical Services.”

Air Commodore Shankar Subramanian, Corresponding author of the study said, “As the individuals moved sequentially from unvaccinated to partially vaccinated to fully vaccinated status, 3 groups formed naturally over time, enabling the requisite analysis to be carried out. Vaccine effectiveness was found to be 93% for reduction of infections and 98% for deaths. It reiterates the message – Get Vaccinated, Stay safe.”

• Vaccination drive with COVISHIELD commences in Armed Forces w.e.f 16 Jan 2021
• 1.59 million Health care and Frontline workers followed for 135 days
• Predominantly male, mean age 27.6 years
• By 30 May 2021, 95% at least partially vaccinated and 82% fully vaccinated
• Corrected Vaccine effectiveness: 93% for infections, 98% for deaths