which variants of Covid affected the vaccinees the most

The latest report from monitoring of variants of the coronavirus, which the Ministry of Health made public on Wednesday, confirmed what was expected: a clear advance in the Gamma variant, originally known as Manaus, which already accounts for 41% of the circulation.

But this study, the third carried out by Health based on genomic monitoring by experts from ANLIS-Malbrán, also analyzed which variants affected those who had previously received the vaccine the most and they were positive in PCR.

The first Technical report on the current status of new SARS-CoV-2 variants it had been published in May. At the time, the so-called worrying variants (VOCs) represented 37% of samples in non-travelers, led by Gamma with 17% of the total.

The two reports made in June were published jointly on Wednesday. The last reaches epidemiological week 24 and, in addition to tracking positive cases detected in travelers entered through Ezeiza, it included analysis of 1,077 samples with no travel history.

In this sampling, VOCs have already exceeded half of the cases analyzed: Gamma climbed to 41% and Alpha (UK) represents 11%. Lambda, also called Andina and considered a variant of interest (VOI) by the WHO, accounts for 14% of the samples.

What happens to the vaccinated

The majority presence of the Gamma / Manaus variant it is verified in all regions of the country. This variant increases transmissibility and also presents a possible increased risk of mortality in hospitalizations.

433 positive cases were studied: 174 had received the first dose of the vaccine and 259, the second. It was not stated which vaccine each of these patients received.

The report distinguishes between vaccinated (when at least 21 days have elapsed between the first dose and the sample collection), with a complete vaccination schedule (second dose at least 21 days before the sample collection) and unvaccinated (less 21 days between vaccine and PCR).

In all situations, the Manaus variant is the most detected: 41.8% in those who have a complete diet, 38.6% in the immune and 41.7% in the non-immune. Among the vaccinated and the complete pattern, the same parameters are repeated as in the general population and Lambda is followed in order of priority and Alpha is third.

The presence of priority variants is more important in people who are immune than in those who are not: 59% against 51%. Does this mean that vaccines they are less efficient against these variants?

The one analyzing the data is Elsa Baumeister, head of the respiratory virus department at ANLIS-Malbrán and one of the authors of the technical team that wrote the report. She notices that he is a logical question: in the vaccinated, the same variants predominate as in the unvaccinated.

He also refers to the latest WHO report on the impact of vaccination – without Sputnik data – which shows minimal loss or decrease with the Manaus strain compared to the UK.

But for Baumeister, the key is in the circulation of variants. “It is the exposure that will condition the risk of being infected,” he explains. And he talks about an “offer of infection”.

We might think as if we were going to a supermarket. The gondola is more filled with these variants than the others or the original strain. And then this consumer “buys” (not on purpose, of course) SARS-CoV-2 with this variant.

The expert concedes that vaccines “are not perfect”, but what emerges is that “beyond the variants, most cases in vaccinees will not be severe”.

In detail of the deaths reported in the report that had been infected with the Gamma variant, six were not immunized and four received a single dose: there were no deaths with the full immunization schedule.

AS