Fully-vaccinated individuals show lower CT score on contracting COVID-19: IMS-BHU study

A study conducted by doctors from the Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS) under Banaras Hindu University (BHU) has confirmed that vaccination against COVID-19 significantly reduced the chances of mortality or other health complications in people infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, BHU said in a statement issued recently.

During the study, a team of doctors under the leadership of Dr. Ashish Verma and Dr. Ishan Kumar, and including Dr. Ram Chandra Shukla, Dr. Pramod Kumar Singh and Dr. Ritu Ojha, analyzed high resolution Computed Tomography (CT) scans of symptomatic COVID patients. The patients were divided in three groups – unvaccinated, partially vaccinated and fully-vaccinated.

The study showed that fully-vaccinated individuals had a significantly low CT score even if they contracted COVID-19, while partially vaccinated individuals coped better against the infection than unvaccinated individuals,

A CT scan helps in identifying pulmonary infection caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus in COVID patients through imagining. A high CT score is often associated with severe symptoms in patients and higher chances of fatality, say doctors.

The study conducted at the Department of Radiodiagnosis at IMS also showed that the CT score of fully-vaccinated patients above the age of 60 years was not significantly different from those younger than them, indicating that vaccination was an effective tool for averting severe health complications even in senior citizens.

This study is first-of-its-kind in the country, experts from BHI claimed. The group of researchers from IMS compiled their observation in an original research paper which has been published in the journal ‘European Radiology’ which has an impact factor of 5.3. Impact factor is the frequency at which an article from a journal is cited in a year.

“The only way to put life back on track seems to be a widespread vaccination programme, which would in turn generate a general resistance against a severe and complicated form of disease, even if the infection occurs. Many vaccines have been introduced in the market and are being delivered through government sponsored vaccination programmes in India and across the world. It is generally observed that those vaccinated as per protocol fare well even if they get infected subsequently. This common perception has been further concretised and documented through our study,” IMS, BHU said in a statement.

Though this is an initial observational compilation with a small sample size, based only on patients reporting to a tertiary COVID-care center, it provides an initial insight into the efficacy of the vaccine and the immunisation programme in India, it added.