Indian dentists: Did vaccination reduce positivity rate during second wave?

India’s first study to assess the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in preventing infection among dental practitioners during the second wave of the pandemic in India got published by 4 senior academics- 3 senior specialist dentists (oral and maxillofacial surgeons, oral pathologist, public health dentist) and Community Medicine specialist from ESIC Dental College, New Delhi and SGT University, Gurugram, Haryana respectively.

Study objectives:

Primary: To assess whether vaccination against the SARS-COV-2 virus has helped to reduce the positivity rate amongst dentists during the second wave

Secondary: To assess whether

1. Vaccination protects against COVID-19 across all age groups
2. Vaccination leads to less severe symptoms in vaccinated persons
3. 2 dose of vaccine leads to less severe symptoms compared to 1 dose
4. Single-dose of vaccine is as effective as the two-dose regime in preventing COVID-19 infection
5. The vaccine is effective in preventing COVID-19 in persons with comorbidities
6. COVISHIELD is more effective than COVAXIN in preventing infection or vice versa

Methodology:

Sample Size (N): 4,493 dentists from 26 states & 7 Union Territories (UT’s) across India

Study Design: Cross-sectional questionnaire-based online survey

Time Duration: 29 April – 1 May 2021

State and UT-wise distribution of Respondents

Age-wise Distribution

74% of dentists were below 45 years

Age-wise Distribution of Co-morbidities

• 81% of dentists had no co-morbidities
• No comorbidities: 80% were below 45 years

Results/Findings:

1. Whether Vaccine protects against COVID-19 across ALL age groups

• Total 88% of dentists were vaccinated with at least 1 dose of either COVISHIELD/COVAXIN
• 86% (N=2862) of dentists below the age of 45 years were vaccinated
• 96% (N=1100) dentists above the age of 45 years were vaccinated

2. COVID-19 Vaccination v/s positivity rate

• 9% of dentists became COVID-19 +VE in spite of taking vaccination
• 15% of dentists became COVID-19 +VE in the un-vaccinated group

3. Effectivity of COVISHIELD v/s COVAXIN in preventing COVID-19 infection

• 5% took Serum Institute’s COVISHIELD, of which 9.5% contracted COVID-19
• 5% took Bharat Biotech’s COVAXIN, of which 8.4% contracted COVID-19

Whether 1 dose of vaccine is as effective as 2 doses in preventing COVID-19 infection

• 1 dose : 8.2% turned COVID-19 +ve
• 2 dose : 10% turned COVID-19 +ve

5. Effect of Vaccine in preventing COVID-19 in persons with comorbidities

• Without comorbidities: 10% became COVID-19 positive
• With comorbidities: 8% became COVID-19 positive

6. Whether vaccination leads to less severe symptoms in vaccinated persons

• In vaccinated group : 82% Mild & 16% Moderate
• In non-vaccinated group : 79% Mild & 21% Moderate

7. Whether 2 doses of vaccine leads to less severe symptoms compared to 1 dose

• Mild symptoms: 84% who received 2 doses of vaccine & 80% who received 1 dose of vaccine

Conclusion:

1. Vaccination against the SARS-COV-2 virus has a definitive role to play in reducing the positivity rate amongst dentists during the second wave across all age groups.
2. A single dose of vaccine seems to be as effective as two doses of vaccine in preventing infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
3. Vaccines seem to be equally effective against infection in dentists with co-morbidities as in healthy dentists.
4. There is no relation between the type of vaccine administered and the positivity rate among vaccinated dentists.

Reference:

Sanjeev Kumar, Susmita Saxena, Mansi Atri, Sunil Kumar Chamola; Effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccines in preventing infection in dental practitioners – results of a cross-sectional ‘questionnaire-based survey. MedRxiv, 3 June 2021. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.28.21257967

About Dr. Divyesh Mundra:

Dr. Divyesh Mundra (BDS) completed his Masters in Public Health (MPH) Administration from the School of Health Systems Studies (SHSS),  Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. He is a healthcare management professional having 5 years of diverse experience across hospital administration, patient advocacy, public health policy, and implementation of public health programs. Divyesh actively tweets on challenges confronting the Indian healthcare system including medical and dental education.

Dr. Divyesh Mundra on Twitter
Dr. Divyesh Mundra on LinkedIn