June 20, 2021

Covid-19 kills infectious diseases expert, Rajendra Kapila, despite full vaccination

Rajendra Kapila, US-based world renowned infectious diseases expert, has died of Covid-19 in India. 

He was aged 81.

Kapila, who had traveled to India to take care of his family, was supposed to return to the US in the second week of April, but had to be hospitalized in Delhi after testing positive for the virus.

However, the intriguing thing about the death of the University of Rutgers Professor who had practised medicine in the United States for 50 years and known for his extensive work on HIV/AIDS is that he and his wife Dr Deepti Saxena Kapila, had taken both doses of the Pfizer vaccine prior to his arrival in India.

Kapila’s colleagues confirmed his death on Twitter, expressed their grief and applauding Kapila’s work.

“We have lost a giant in infection disease,” wrote Nancy Connell, Professor and Vice-Chair for research in the Division of Infectious Disease in the Department of Medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, adding that Kapila “served as a leader in global infectious diseases” at Rutgers and the department “will be forever grateful for his contribution to global ID and remember his extraordinary diagnostic talent.”

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