Covid attacks: Will avoid 4th time, vows thrice-infected Mumbai medico

Mumbai, July 28 A young Mumbai medico, Dr Shrushti D. Halari - who shot into national headlines after getting infected thrice by Covid - now vows to ensure the virus doesn't attack her a fourth time.

Dr Shrushti, 26, was first infected on June 17, 2020, while on Covid-19 duty at BMC's Veer Savarkar Hospital in Mulund, and twice again in May and July, after getting fully vaccinated.

She hails from a Gujarati family of medicos, originally of Dholera, with her father Dr Deepak, mother Dr Vaishali, and her younger brother Dhawal, studying for his MBBS, are all fully vaccinated.

Dr Shrushti completed her 3-month assignment and was at home preparing for her MD and later higher medical studies in the US. The entire family also took the two doses of Covishield vaccines in early-March and late-April.

However, the family was perturbed when Dr Shrushti was infected for the second time - on May 29 - despite having been fully vaccinated, but recovered fully.

The big shock came on July 11, when the entire Halari family was infected and hospitalized, put on Remdesivir, barely 3 months after their second vaccine doses.

Not suffering from any comorbidity, Dr Shrushti's third encounter with Covid-19 stunned even the medical fraternity with the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation officials and other experts terming it as "an unprecedented, extremely rare occurrence".

The BMC has taken the swabs of Dr Shrushti and Dhawal for further analysis by Foundation for Medical Research, to ascertain the type of Covid-19 variant/s that may have struck the Halari family - three with comorbidities, and after getting fully inoculated.

The third time in July "was probably due to Dr Shrushti's low immunity levels on account of her two previous infections and the likely new strains of the virus that are coming to the fore in recent months", surmised Dr Vaishali.

"Actually, even the doctors initially did not believe it was possible, but after our physician Dr Mehul Thakkar's advice, she went for the tests which came positive and she was hospitalized early the next morning," added Dr Vaishali, narrating the harrowing time the Halari household had experienced.

"This has been very tough for the entire family. Now, we shall ensure there is no 4th time," Dr Shrushti said with soft determination.