Relief secretary contracts virus 12 days after vaccination

Disaster Management and Relief Secretary Md Mohsin has contracted the coronavirus 12 days after being vaccinated for the illness.

He is currently undergoing treatment in Dhaka's United Hospital, the ministry's spokesman Selim Hossain said on Thursday.

The health directorate has not been made aware of the secretary's condition yet, said its Additional Director General Nasima Sultana.

However, vaccination does not 'completely eliminate' the risk of infection in all cases after vaccination, according to her.

“Transmission will be reduced once the vaccine is administered. However, the infection can still occur because no vaccine company has said that the vaccine is 100% effective.”

Secretary Mohsin was inoculated at the National Cancer Research Institute and Hospital on Feb 7, said Selim.

"He had breathing difficulties and his oxygen saturation also decreased after his coronavirus test result came back positive on Feb 19. That's why he was admitted to United Hospital. Now, the shortness of breath has abated while the oxygen saturation has also improved.”

According to Prof Nasima, a portion of people may still contract the infection even after being inoculated, as shown by the clinical trials of all types of vaccines.

"Besides, a single dose of the vaccine will not be completely effective against the disease. It requires two doses. The efficacy of the vaccine in preventing the infection will become clear only after the two doses are administered.

The vaccine will help reduce the severity of the illness even if a person gets infected afterwards. We need to look into the case of the secretary to ascertain what happened.”

Bangladesh is currently conducting a mass immunisation drive against COVID-19 using the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine made by Serum Institute of India. People need to take two doses of the Oxford vaccine, COVISHIELD, with a booster shot eight to 12 weeks after the first.

AstraZeneca said the vaccine has been shown to be safe in clinical trials and has provided effective protection to 70 percent of the volunteers.

While some people may experience mild fever, body aches, and fatigue after receiving the vaccine shots, health experts say there is no cause for panic or alarm. Among those who have been vaccinated in Bangladesh, there have been no reports of any serious side effects so far.