Study Finds Delta Variant Decreases the Effectiveness of Vaccines

Aug, 2021 - By SMI

A Real-time Assessment of Community Transmission study conducted in the U.K. revealed that the new emerging variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is reducing the effectiveness of the vaccines.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to public health and economic wellbeing worldwide. Scientists and researchers are trying to develop novel therapeutics since the inception of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China in December, 2019. Interestingly, scientists and researchers succeeded in their trial and have developed COVID-19 vaccines at a record speed, and many of these vaccines received approval from the various global regulatory bodies. Vaccination is important to combat the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and thereby, reducing the number of hospitalization cases. Interestingly, the U.K. had a relatively successful rollout of vaccinations and approximately 74% of adults in the U.K. had received both the doses of vaccine. Despite the vaccination efforts, there has been a surge in positivity rate during the last three months in the U.K. This study revealed that the reason behind increase in transmission rate is the Delta variant, the emerging variant of SARS-CoV-2. The researchers found among 13-17 years old individuals, the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 had increased compared with results from previous studies. The researchers found that 50% of the positive results belong to the age group 5-24 years. They also observed that unvaccinated individuals have three fold higher chances to contract the virus. The study also revealed that the effectiveness of vaccines are reduced to some extent by Delta variant and the vaccines are more effective against symptomatic COVID-19.

Taken together, the researchers suggested that the U.K. government should consider vaccinating the young individuals in the age group 12-17 years old as this study shows that a significant number of younger individuals in the U.K. are contracting the virus. The researchers also stress on the necessity to develop vaccine specifically for the Delta Variant.