An ongoing survey has shown that one-third of fully vaccinated individuals in the UK are at risk of contracting COVID.
As the Delta variant spreads across the globe, cases and deaths are continuing to rise in various parts of the globe. Moreover, a small fraction of the hospitalizations and deaths have occurred in fully vaccinated individuals. In an effort to examine vaccine effectiveness in the wake of the Delta variant, researchers at Imperial College London are conducting a survey in England. Called the REal-time Assessment of Community Transmission-1 (REACT-1) study, the program is being carried out in partnership with Ipsos MORI. The results of the ongoing study are available in a pre-print report and will undergo a peer-review soon.
For the study, researchers collected swabs from almost 100,000 people in England between 24 June and 12 July. According to the results, the prevalence during this period was 1.21% for unvaccinated people and 0.4% for vaccinated individuals. Thus, revealing a lower, but significant, risk for fully vaccinated individuals. Moreover, 1 in 160 people tested positive for the virus in this period. This is a 4-fold increase in infections as compared to the study’s previous report.
These findings confirm our previous data showing that both doses of a vaccine offer good protection against getting infected. However we can also see that there is still a risk of infection, as no vaccine is 100% effective, and we know that some double vaccinated people can still become ill from the virus.
Professor Paul Elliott, director of the REACT programme
Result Points to Delta Variant’s Infectivity
The report found a high prevalence of infection in the younger age groups, with a nine-fold increase from the study’s previous data. However, the ease in restrictions and opening of schools across the country might increase the risk further. Therefore, experts are advising that people continue to take precautions.
So even with the easing of restrictions, we should still act with caution to help protect one another and curb the rate of infections.
Professor Paul Elliott, director of the REACT programme
100% of the samples that underwent genomic testing in the lab revealed the delta variant. Previous reports had shown a higher prevalence of the Alpha variant in the country. Thus, showing the dominance of the contagious variant in the country. However, the vaccines continued to provide a high degree of protection against the variant. Therefore, experts are advising that people continue receiving their shots and practice masking in appropriate settings.
Source: Imperial College London
