Delhi doctor gets COVID-19 thrice, twice after both jabs

Dr Veena Aggarwal, the wife of late Dr KK Aggarwal, said that anybody can get infected anytime whether you are vaccinated or not, but if you are vaccinated, the chances of severe illness and death get reduced. "Me and husband were an exception to the rule. I got saved because of my vaccines, but Dr KK didn`t because he also had other comorbidities," Dr Veena said.

New Delhi: A 61-year-old Delhi doctor, infected with COVID-19 thrice and contracting both the Alpha and Delta variants after vaccination, presents the first such documented case of two reinfections and two breakthrough infections. Dr Veena Aggarwal, the wife of late Dr KK Aggarwal, first tested positive on August 16, last year and was asymptomatic. She took her first dose of the Covishield vaccine on February 1 this year, followed by the second dose on March 15. On April 12, she tested positive for the second time and had symptoms such as acute abdominal pain, fever, myalgia, and fatigue. Within 19 days, on May 3, she tested positive for the third time. The infection resulted in hypoxia, hospitalisation, and illness lasting seven weeks. Whole-genome sequencing showed the second infection was caused by the Alpha variant and the third by the Delta variant.