Immunization of up to 70-75% of the population is apparently not sufficient to achieve herd immunity to protect against the Delta variant. According to researchers, more than 82% of the population needs to be immunized to protect themselves from the Delta variant.
According to a researcher, Elias Mosialos of the London School of Economics and Science (LSE) said the Delta variant would be a concern for the following three categories: the unvaccinated, children who have not been vaccinated, and a small percentage of 4% respectively and 8%, because the Pfizer / BioNTech and AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccines do not prevent severe symptoms.
Vaccine functions
1-Fully prevent infection coming from a pathogen.
2-If vaccines do not prevent infection and we become infected, they can protect us from severe symptoms and hospitalization
3-Vaccines can reduce the spread of the disease, if you are sick (because there remains a small viral load in our upper respiratory system, but that does not endanger vaccinated persons).
4-As for coronavirus vaccines, most people who have been vaccinated are protected from infection, but the exact percentage is not yet known.
5-Persons who have been vaccinated with Pfizer and AstraZeneca are 96% and 92% respectively protected from severe symptoms and hospitalization.
But the vaccine does not protect all people from the Delta variant. A 4% to 8% will have severe symptoms and will need to be hospitalized. Vaccines are 100% effective against the English variant (‘Alpha’).
6- Vaccines prevent transmission by 70-90%, but the Delta variant is more easily transmitted and the rate of distribution within the family has increased by 64%.
But is the Indian variant more deadly?
Based on the data so far it is not. Asked why cases have risen again, in countries such as England and Israel, where a significant percentage of the population has been vaccinated, Mosialos stressed that “in both countries no more than 60% of those over 16 have been vaccinated, reports abcnews.al
Vaccination of up to 60% of adults seems to have been enough to keep the English version in check. This percentage includes 10-15% of persons who have acquired natural immunity.
However, immunization of up to 70-75% of the population is not sufficient to achieve herd immunity To achieve herd immunity about 82% of adults should be vaccinated. But what we notice is that although England is the country with the highest number of new cases in Europe, it is also the country with the lowest number of serious cases.
This means that vaccines work.
But why has the number of new cases increased in both England and Israel and why has the number of hospitalizations of people not vaccinated with Pfizer and AZ increased (4 and 8% respectively).
Can the number of new cases increase in unvaccinated persons?
Yes, but there is no reason to worry, as “the main role of the vaccine is to prevent severe cases, not the complete prevention of infection.
“So we can see an increase in cases in vaccinated people, but that does not mean they will have severe symptoms. But we still have to wait for the Johnson & Johnson and Moderna vaccine data, in terms of effectiveness against the Delta variant.
