Vaccines don’t stop infection, but help in reducing severity: Health economist

◗ ANUP MALANI, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School and the university’s Pritzker School of Medicine, has been leading a series of Covid-19 serosurveys in cities and states across India with economic development-focused think-tank IDFC

New Delhi, April 17: Covid19 vaccines do not stop one from getting infected but instead help in curing the disease faster and reducing its severity, said health and development economist Professor Anup Malani. He also said that reinfection can be one of the reasons behind the recent surge in cases in the country.

Malani, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School and the university’s Pritzker School of Medicine, has been leading a series of Covid-19 serosurveys in cities and states across India with economic development-focused think-tank IDFC.

In an interview with PTI,

Malani said: “I fear this is the biggest misunderstanding around India and even in other countries today. Previous infection and vaccines do not stop you from being infected. That was never how immunity worked. Instead, natural and vaccine-acquired immunity is helpful because it helps you clear the infection faster once you are infected.” This has two benefits it helps you avoid death or other serious health harm from the infection, and it helps reduce the probability you will infect someone else. So it is possible to be reinfected, but the harms of the infection will be lower, he said.

The level of reinfection in the population depends on the prevalence of the infection and the prevalence of immunity, natural or vaccine acquired, Malani said. “The level of reinfection is driven up by more activity (like large gatherings), and down by immunity rates. What may be going on in India is that activity recently increased at a faster rate than immunity. This is the most optimistic interpretation of the surge, he said.

Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) director general Balram Bhargava earlier this month had said that reinfection of cases are around one per cent.

Malani said there can be two possibilities behind the recent surge in cases, one is people are not wearing masks and gathering, and the other is emergence of new strains of the coronavirus.