Morung Express News
Dimapur | November 20
Over 1 lakh people in Nagaland are overdue to get the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Making the disclosure in the weekly COVID roundup, released on November 20, the state Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) informed that the number of people, who are overdue for dose-2 stood at 1,02,450 as on November 20.
Emphasising the significance of getting the vaccine early on, it said, “Full protection by the vaccine will only be effective two weeks after the second dose and is critical for preventing hospitalization and death.”
Hesitancy was palpable as the weekly total of the targeted population getting the vaccine dropped below the 20 thousand mark for the third week straight. Only 17,818 doses were administered across the state during the past 7 days (November 13-19).
The state-wide total of vaccines administered stood at 12,51,947, of which 5,28,735 were the second shot.
While unscientific claims have slowed down the pace of vaccination, empirical data, and medically attested, continue to invalidate the irrational claims. As stated in the previous weekly roundup, the IDSP reiterated, “87 percent of COVID-19 deaths are unvaccinated. Fully vaccinated deaths constitute only 1.5 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the second wave.”
It further said that the vaccine diminish post-COVID symptoms or complications. “Patients who received at least one dose of any of the three COVID vaccines prior to their diagnosis with COVID-19 were 7-10 times less likely to report two or more long-COVID symptoms compared to unvaccinated patients,” the IDSP quoted a study published in “medRXiv” (not peer reviewed).
“The last 4 weeks have shown an increase in new cases with European region reporting the maximum number of cases. Many countries are already into the fourth wave as hospitalizations and deaths increase mostly among the unvaccinated. Countries like Germany, Austria, Singapore have started partial lockdowns for the unvaccinated,” it added.
Superspreader
The state reported one superspreader event the past week. As per the IDSP, “Mokokchung reported a weekly sample positivity rate of 8.1 percent due to a superspreader event at a children’s home, where 16 were tested positive.”
Mokokchung accounted for 25 out of 67 new cases reported in Nagaland during the week.
Mon, Longleng, Phek, Kiphire and Peren did not report a single case, while Dimapur reported 33 new cases, Kohima- 5, Tuensang- 2, Wokha and Zunheboto- 1 each. The weekly sample positivity rate was 1.8 percent and positivity has remained below 5 percent for the last 14 weeks.
There were 17 new cases of hospitalisations and 101 recoveries. Dimapur reported 44 recoveries, Mokokchung- 22, Kohima- 13, Tuensang- 6, Wokha- 5, Mon- 4, Kiphire- 3, Phek and Peren- 2 each.
There were 3 deaths— 2 in Kohima and 1 in Zunheboto. The IDSP said that the state has recorded on average 4.4 COVID-19 deaths, weekly, over the past 5 weeks. At 2.12 percent, the state’s Case Fatality Rate remained higher than the global (2.01 percent) and national (1.35 percent).
