Did the Delta Variant Disable COVID-19 Group Immunity?

(NEXSTAR) – A leading British immunologist told British legislators Tuesday that the idea of ​​reaching global herd immunity with a delta variant of COVID-19 is “mythical.”

Sir Andrew Polard, a professor of pediatric infections and immunity and director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said the dangerously efficient infection of delta variants could prevent the UK from effectively blocking the virus through a combination of vaccination and antibodies. Said it was impossible. coronavirus.

“The problem with this virus is [it is] It’s not measles. If 95% of people are vaccinated against measles, the virus cannot be transmitted within the population, “said Polard. Wales online.. “The Delta variant infects vaccinated people, which means that at some point anyone who has not yet been vaccinated will encounter the virus … and we do. I don’t have anything to do [completely] Stop the transmission. “

The UK enjoyed the summer calm in the case of COVID-19, which drew national attention to pandemic-related restrictions and the end of the holiday in the sun.

But scientists warn the public not to be satisfied, saying that high levels of infection in the community could lead to another surge this fall.

The reason for their pessimism is the delta variant of COVID-19, which is currently predominant throughout the UK. Vaccines are less effective against this more contagious mutant, and if the UK wants to control the disease, a much higher level of vaccination must be achieved. About 60% of the UK population is fully vaccinated.

“I think the next thing the virus spits out is probably a mutant that is even better infected in the vaccinated population,” Polard said.

According to Dr. Peter Chin Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, the risk of getting COVID-19 is much higher for unvaccinated people thanks to Delta.

“The amount of virus produced by Delta is so overwhelming that we may have avoided this as an unvaccinated person in 2020, but in 2021 we got a bullet in the elevator or in a chance encounter at the mall. You may not be able to dodge. ” Dr. Chin Hong.

Incidents continue to increase in the United States during the summer. Overwhelming hospital When Run out of ICU bed supply..

Repeated infections open up the possibility of further mutations as the virus continues to rupture in the United States and elsewhere in the world.

“This also applies to many viruses and it propagates. I want to make more myself, but that copier is a bit cheaper model, so there are a lot of mistakes. But somehow, these errors happen to be from the virus. It gives the offspring a survival benefit, “said Chin Hong.

Regarding the currently known variants, Mr. Chin Hong said there is another that he continues to monitor, despite Delta’s current dominance.

“I think we are all looking at Delta Plus because the backbone of Delta Plus is Delta … [and] It has a superpower from its beta variant South Africa, and the reason it’s a little scary … is that it may be a bit more vaccination-avoidant than Delta. “

Chin-Hong added that the rate of mutations following the alpha mutant of the coronavirus may not take long to talk about the new mutant.

For now, the best thing people can do is get vaccinated, Chin Hong said, people who haven’t compromised on the COVID-19 vaccine yet, despite current variants and breakthrough cases. The immune system is effective in preventing hospitalization and death.

“Vaccines are still really good at it,” said Chin Hong. “It’s great, it remains great. It’s like the distinction between being just an infection and obstruction and being seriously ill, needing a respiratory tract, and dying.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.