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Vaccines targeting Covid-19 are able to dramatically reduce deaths and hospitalizations in patients, including those infected with the highly transmissible delta variant that drove India devastating second wave and is now triggering brakes Los Angeles to Melbourne.
About 0.4% died among those who became infected after inoculation – called breakthrough infections – while almost 10% had to be hospitalized, according to one. new study by researchers led by Nivedita Gupta of the Indian Council for Medical Research. The study, which analyzed genome sequencing data from 677 Covid patients, found that 86% of fully vaccinated cases were due to the delta variant.
The results underscore the crucial role of injections in preventing extreme outcomes in people with Covid and raise doubts about the vaccine’s effectiveness, especially with regard to the delta variant which has spread rapidly in at least 104 countries. First detected in India last October, this variant has become the dominant strain in the UK, US and Australia, forcing public health officials to double social distancing measures.
“This clearly suggests that the vaccination reduces the severity of illness, hospitalization and mortality,” the study said. “Therefore, stepping up the vaccination campaign and rapidly immunizing populations would be the most important strategy to prevent further deadly waves of Covid-19 and reduce the burden on the health system. “
Of those analyzed in the study, which is yet to be peer reviewed, 592 people had received both doses of the vaccine while 85 had received only one dose. India mainly injected people AstraZeneca Plc’s Covishield – a traditional vector-based vaccine whose efficacy against the delta variant has raised concerns over the highly effective messenger RNA vaccines from Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc.
Delta mutations
Perhaps the largest and first nationwide study of post-vaccination breakthrough infections in India, the research also detected evidence of two new delta mutations – Delta AY.1 and Delta AY.2 – in some additional samples older variants, alpha and kappa.
India saw daily infections cross a record high of 400,000 levels in early May during the second delta-driven wave that overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums. Shortages of essential supplies have led to calls from citizens are flooding social media platforms for hospital beds, oxygen cylinders and Covid-related drugs.
The country has so far only fully vaccinated 5.7% of its 1.3 billion people, according to Bloomberg’s vaccine tracker.
Third wave
Infections are on the rise again in some Indian states, including Maharashtra and Kerala, fueling fears of an incoming third wave. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told heads of state at a briefing on Friday that effective measures were urgently needed to prevent the outbreak from resuming.
The study also contains policy prescriptions for India, as it seeks to avoid another Covid infection. He stressed the need for constant genome sequencing as well as the monitoring of these revolutionary infections.
“Such surveillance will help us understand the need to adequately refine the available vaccines and also to develop new vaccines with increased potential for protection against variant strains of SARS-CoV-2,” he said.
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