Oxford vaccine director said immunity is not complete against beta and delta variants, but it dramatically reduces severe cases

Oxford Vaccine Group director Andrew Pollard said on Monday that the beta variant could escape the immunity offered by the vaccine, although he hopes the AstraZeneca preparation will offer “very high protection” against hospitalizations and deaths.

“The beta variant (first identified in South Africa) is also found in the UK and, like the delta variant, is able to evade vaccine immunity to some extent.”the expert said in statements to UK station BBC Radio 4 today.

His remarks coincide with the lifting on Monday of the last legal restrictions due to the pandemic in this country, with which there will no longer be a limit on the number of people who can meet in closed places and the use of masks will no longer be obligatory.

Precisely because this variant “is really very good at evading immunity from vaccines,” Pollard added. the scientific community anticipates that the mutation “could spread between vaccinated populations”.

“We know that people who have been immunized with messenger RNA (genetically modified) vaccines, such as Pfizer, as well as Oxford / AstraZeneca, can be infected with the beta variant,” he said.

Regarding the efficacy of the AstraZeneca preparation against this variant, he referred to a study carried out in South Africa by the pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson, a preparation “very similar” to AstraZeneca, which showed that with a single dose of this vaccine 100% protection against hospitalizations and death has been obtained.

“RNA vaccines, like the one from Pfizer, and the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine, are given in two doses. AstraZeneca is very similar to Johnson & Johnson and we are biologically hoping to achieve very high protection against hospitalization and death, and I am absolutely confident that will happen because that is how vaccines work, ”he explained.

Pollard also said that while death rates from COVID-19 are expected to remain low thanks to vaccination, they will increase.

“The effectiveness of vaccines against serious illnesses and hospitalization and death rates will continue to be low thanks to vaccines (…) but they will increase and we know it,” he observed.

According to the scientific models used, there will be an increase in infections, an increase which “will unfortunately translate into an increase in hospitalizations and deaths”, even if “it will be much less than in other waves” of the pandemic.

For his part, the British Minister for Vaccination, Nadhim Zahawi, showed himself today “of confidence” in which the government is doing “the right thing” by lifting the last legal restrictions in the country from Monday.

“We have to be careful, we have to continue to be vigilant. Our border controls are still in effect, and we hope and recommend that masks continue to be worn in crowded places, as well as citizens embrace personal and corporate responsibility, ”the minister told Sky News.

Daily cases of COVID-19 are around 50,000 cases nationwide, peaks not reached since last January.

(with information from the EFE)

KEEP READING: