Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Breakthrough Infections among Fully Vaccinated Undergraduate Medical Students at a Teaching Hospital in Puducherry
Citation Information :
Raveendran PV, Nair S. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Breakthrough Infections among Fully Vaccinated Undergraduate Medical Students at a Teaching Hospital in Puducherry. 2024; 26 (1):7-12.
Context: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a significant pandemic, claiming many lives. Controlling the infection posed a great challenge, which was addressed by the development of vaccines against the virus. However, the disease continued to spread, resulting in breakthrough infections. Consequently, understanding the risk factors and severity of breakthrough infections became a major concern.
Aims: (1) To measure the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infection among fully vaccinated medical students; (2) to determine the risk factors for breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infection in vaccinated medical students; (3) to find out the severity of illness among students with breakthrough infection.
Settings and design: This was a cross-sectional study carried out on undergraduate medical students at a teaching hospital in Puducherry. Study subjects were identified by simple random sampling.
Materials and methods: A total of 215 undergraduate medical students vaccinated with two doses of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine were included in the study. The questionnaire consisted of demographic details, COVID vaccination details, COVID infection history, risk factors, and severity of illness.
Statistical analysis: Data has been summarized using frequency and percentage.
Results: Among 215 fully vaccinated medical students, 57 (26%) breakthrough cases were detected, including 21 males (36%) and 36 females (64%) between the ages of 18 and 23 years. Among these, 9 (16%) had received Covaxin and 47 (84%) had received Covishield. The major risk factor for breakthrough infection was close contact with confirmed cases. Among symptomatic students, the majority had only mild symptoms. The predominant symptoms in infected cases were fever, cough, body ache, and sore throat. The majority (51.8%) had their symptoms resolved within 1 week.
Conclusion: Identifying the occurrence, severity, and factors responsible for breakthrough infections with SARS-CoV-2 is important, as it may inform the choice of response by healthcare authorities. Asymptomatic cases of breakthrough infections may pose a threat to vulnerable populations.
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