West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today claimed that the new cases of COVID-19 infections in the state are mostly from among those who have been fully vaccinated but their immunity after being administered both doses is not exceeding six months.
She directed the state health secretary to take up the matter with the Centre and seek to know the reasons behind it.
"It may not be that these people (those affected by the pandemic after vaccination) are dying. But why will their immunity fall? It's not a single case, there are a number of them," the chief minister said during an administrative meeting at Uttarkanya, the branch secretariat in north Bengal.
West Bengal has in the last four days witnessed a sudden surge in the number of COVID-19 cases post Durga Puja festivities.
"The recent cases of fresh infection are from among those who have already got both doses of the vaccine. There are reports. The reason is that the immunity given by the vaccine is not beyond six months. We all know that. Do not know how much you will be able to talk about it outside your home... But the fact remains," Ms Banerjee said.
Ms Banerjee, who is among the the bitterest critics of the BJP-led government at the Centre, had on Sunday dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 100-crore vaccinated speech and silence over WHO's approval for Covaxin for international travel as "double jumla".
To the health secretary NS Nigam, she said, "I will ask you to write to the central health ministry to find out why people are being infected even after being fully vaccinated. And whether the central government is conducting any study to find out why is the immunity to the disease is less even after the people are vaccinated twice."
She also directed NS Nigam to conduct a study to find out in the repeat cases whether the victims concerned were administered Covishield or Covaxin, the two variants of the vaccine that are being mostly administered in the country.
Till Sunday, cumulatively over 7,20,61,253 doses have been administered in West Bengal, health depratment official said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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