Most fully vaccinated people who get Covid delta infections are asymptomatic, WHO says

People fully vaccinated against Covid-19 are still infected with the delta variant, but global health officials said the injections have protected most people from serious illness or death.

“Reports indicate that vaccinated populations have cases of infection, particularly with the delta variant,” Dr Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist of the World Health Organization, said at a press briefing on Monday. . “The majority of these are mild or asymptomatic infections.”

However, hospitalizations are increasing in some parts of the world, mainly where vaccination rates are low and where the highly contagious delta variant is spreading, she said.

In the United States, officials said virtually all recent hospitalizations and deaths from Covid were among unvaccinated people. Breakthrough infections are rare, and about 75% of people who die or are hospitalized with Covid after vaccination are over 65, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The delta variant is circling the world at a breakneck pace, causing a new spike in cases and deaths. However, it is not the same thing everywhere,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus . “We are in the midst of a growing two-way pandemic where the haves and have-nots within and between countries increasingly divide in places with high immunization coverage.”

The variant spreads quickly and infects unprotected and vulnerable people, he said.

Swaminathan warned that vaccinated people can still catch Covid and pass it on to others, which is why WHO officials have urged people to continue wearing masks and practicing social distancing. “But it certainly reduces your risk of serious hospitalization and death significantly,” she added.

Some studies have shown that people infected with Covid after vaccination produce much less virus than those who are not vaccinated, reducing the risk of passing the virus on to others. WHO officials said more studies are needed to understand the impact of vaccines on transmissibility.