Thread by @Rukmini

Thread: I am supposed to be taking a break from regular reporting to finish up my book. But I cannot let it go when the government puts out false or misleading data. When I saw this in the April 21 press conference, I knew there was a problem

https://twitter.com/COVIDNewsByMIB/status/1384829869255655428

It seemed highly unlikely to me that the government was either able to track every person who had received even one dose of a vaccine, or that every person being tested was being asked their vaccination status. So I asked people, labs, and officials. And that data's faulty.

The ICMR only added a section on vaccination status to its testing form on April 7, so for three months before, potentially vaccinated people testing positive were not captured. Even now, the new form has not made it to most on the ground.

Additionally, even now people who were vaccinated and then tested positive, but were not asked vaccination status at the time of testing, are being counted as "tested positive, not vaccinated" in the data. There's documents to prove that.

At best, the ICMR can say - this is the number of people that we know were vaccinated and tested positive, but we don't know how many more are out there. The denominator CANNOT be all people vaccinated - that's just plain wrong.

Vaccines work- there is published efficacy data for Covishield and a press release for Covaxin showing efficacy against infection, severe disease and death. Real-world effectiveness will always be lower. Presenting faulty data to claim implausibly high effectiveness is a BAD idea

Please read the full piece for the documents, real testimonies and expert views - indiaspend.com/covid-19/india…