Researchers Worried On Delta Variant

  • 19-Aug-2021
  • 0 Comments


The COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer and AstraZeneca are less effective against the Delta variant of coronavirus compared to the Alpha variant. 

The researchers, however, noted that with Delta, Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and Oxford-AstraZeneca preventive, known as Covishield in India, still offer good protection against new infections.

Two doses of either vaccine still provided at least the same level of protection as having had COVID-19 before through natural infection, they said.

The researchers analysed 2580,021 test results from nose and throat swabs taken from 384,543 participants aged 18 years or older between December 1, 2020 and May 16, 2021.

They also analysed 811,624 test results from 358,983 participants between May 17, 2021 and August 1, 2021.

The yet to be peer-reviewed study found that the people who had been vaccinated after already being infected with COVID-19 had even more protection than vaccinated individuals who had not had COVID-19 before.

However, Delta infections after two vaccine doses had similar peak levels of virus as those in unvaccinated people, the researchers said.

 

The researchers, including those from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) and the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) in the UK, also found that a single dose of the Moderna vaccine has similar or greater effectiveness against the Delta variant as single doses of the other vaccines.

Related

News