Vaccines reduce Covid infections by 40%-WHO

(AFP)

Geneva, Switzerland – The COVID-19 vaccine will reduce infections with the predominant delta variant by about 40%, WHO said Wednesday, warning that people are in false reassurance about jabs.

Tedros Adhanom Gebreyes, director of the World Health Organization, said many vaccinated people mistakenly thought that Jab no longer needed to take other precautions.

Tedros argues that fully immunized people need to stick to measures to catch the virus and prevent it from being transmitted, and the more contagious Delta is less effective against vaccine infections. I explained that it wasn’t.

“We are concerned about the false sense of security that the vaccine will end the pandemic and that vaccinated people will not need to take other precautions,” Tedros told reporters.

“Vaccines save lives, but they cannot completely prevent infection.

“Data suggest that the vaccine reduced infection by about 60 percent before the arrival of the Delta mutant. At Delta Air Lines, it dropped to about 40 percent.”

The more contagious delta mutants are now by far the predominant worldwide, competing with all but other strains.

“If you’re vaccinated, your risk of serious illness or death is much lower, but you’re still at risk of getting infected and infecting others,” Tedros said.

“I can’t say this clearly enough. Even if you’re vaccinated, keep taking precautions to avoid infecting yourself or others who may die. . “

He said it meant wearing face masks, keeping distance, avoiding crowds, and meeting others only outdoors or in a well-ventilated indoor space.

Delta dominance

According to WHO’s weekly epidemiological report, 99.8% of the 845,000 sequences uploaded to the GISAID Global Science Initiative along with specimens collected over the last 60 days were deltas.

Maria Van Kerkhove, technical leader on COVID at the United Nations Health Organization, said the Delta variant itself is evolving and WHO is trying to track virus circulation and changes.

“We are planning here and are looking at future scenarios of how this virus will change from a contagious point of view, or whether it has the potential for future antigenic escape.

WHO has long emphasized that the COVID-19 vaccines currently available are primarily aimed at reducing the risk of serious illness, hospitalization and death, rather than infection.

WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said the vaccine’s protection against infection was not as high as the mutants that Delta overtook, but the level of protection against severe illness was “in most cases above 80%.” Said.

Social mix in Europe

Europe’s return as the epicenter of the pandemic has been blamed for relocating people indoors and relaxing restrictions due to the Delta, sluggish vaccination in some countries, and the cold.

More than 60% of all COVID-19 infections and deaths reported last week occurred in Europe, with a huge number of cases of unsustainable pressure on the healthcare system and exhausted health care engagements, according to Tedros. Connected to the person.

Europe recorded more than 2.4 million new cases last week. This is an 11% increase from the previous week. Infection increased by 31% in Germany.

Michael Ryan, WHO’s head of emergency, said Europeans “returned to a pre-pandemic level of social mixing,” even in the midst of a massive resurgence of the incident and great pressure on the health system. Stated.

“In reality, the virus will continue to spread violently in that environment,” he said.

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