Shooter developer AstraZeneca says Delta variant made herd immunity impossible because vaccinated people can still transmit the virus

• Achieving collective immunity is “not a possibility” with the Delta variant, Sir Andrew Pollard said.

• This is because the variant can be transmitted by people who have been vaccinated, he said.

• “We have nothing that can stop this transmission,” he said.

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The Delta variant changed the equation to achieve herd immunity, vaccine developer Oxford / AstraZeneca said.

Speaking at a UK parliamentary meeting on Tuesday, Sir Andrew Pollard, professor of pediatric infection and immunity at the University of Oxford, said obtaining collective immunity is “not a possibility “now that the Delta variant is circulating.

“We know very clearly with the coronavirus that this current variant, the Delta variant, will still infect people who have been vaccinated, and that means anyone who is still not vaccinated, at some point, will encounter the virus,” said Pollard.

He said herd immunity was unlikely to ever be achieved, saying the next variant of the new coronavirus will be “perhaps even better at transmitting in vaccinated populations.”

Vaccinated people can still get the Delta variant, although in a milder case

Some experts had hoped that herd immunity could be achieved with COVID-19, as was the case with measles, which is also highly contagious.

Many countries have achieved herd immunity to measles by vaccinating 95% of the population against it, such as the United States, where endemic transmission ended in 2000. This is because once a person is vaccinated against it. measles, it can no longer transmit the virus.

With COVID-19, vaccines still fulfill their primary role: to protect against serious illnesses. According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vaccinated people who catch the Delta variant are 25 times less likely to have a severe case or die. The overwhelming majority of those who get it will have mild or no symptoms.

But growing evidence suggests that with the Delta variant, fully vaccinated people can still transmit the virus.

The story continues

“We don’t have anything that can stop this transmission to other people,” Pollard said.

Israel is a good example: COVID-19 cases have plummeted in the country after vaccinating around 80% of adults – leading some to hope it has achieved herd immunity – but the Delta variant has since caused a new wave of cases.

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