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Public health experts warn that “vaccine does not eliminate all risks,” and early signs indicate that injections may not prevent the spread of Delta.
Scientists said on Friday that hundreds of fully vaccinated people in England were hospitalized with the highly contagious variant of the delta coronavirus.
In its latest COVID-19 update, Public Health England (PHE) also warned that there are early signs that people who have been vaccinated may spread the Delta strain as easily as people who have not received any jabs.
PHE stated that from July 19 to August 2, 55.1% of the 1,467 people hospitalized with the Delta variant were not vaccinated, while 34.9% (512 people) received two doses of the vaccine.
July 19 is called “Freedom Day” and is a day when England greatly relaxes its blockade restrictions.
All vaccines used in the UK — vaccines produced by AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech — require the recipient to receive two doses to be fully vaccinated.
To date, approximately 75% of British adults have received two vaccinations.
PHE said, “As more and more people get vaccinated, we will see a higher relative percentage of hospitalized vaccinated people.”
Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health and Security Agency, said that the hospitalization data “represents once again how important it is for us to all come forward and receive two doses of vaccination once we can do this.”
Harris said in a statement: “Vaccinations are the best tool we have to keep ourselves and our loved ones away from the possible serious risks of COVID-19.”
“However, we must also remember that vaccines do not eliminate all risks: it is still possible to contract COVID-19 and infect others.”
Dominant strain
The results of the PHE study are consistent with those of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which raised concerns last week that people infected with the Delta vaccine may be different from other variants and can easily spread it.
Vaccines have been proven to be good at preventing serious illness and death caused by Delta, especially two doses of the vaccine, but there is less data on whether the vaccinated person can still transmit it to others.
PHE said: “Some preliminary findings… suggest that the virus levels of people who have been vaccinated with Delta virus may be similar to those of people who have not been vaccinated.”
“This may affect people’s infectivity, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated. However, this is an early exploratory analysis and further targeted studies are needed to confirm whether this is the case.”
The Delta variant has become the main form of the global pandemic, continuing a pandemic that has killed more than 4.4 million people, including more than 130,000 people in the United Kingdom.
PHE says it now accounts for 99% of all COVID-19 infections in the UK.
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