The Indian Alternative: Vaccination Dispute – DocCheck

That was fast: in Great Britain, the Indian boom could soon become the number one sprinter. In this country, B.1.617 remains underdeveloped. However, complete vaccination is more important than ever, as new data shows.

At the moment in Great Britain, it looks as though the Indian variant B.1.617.2 of SARS-CoV-2 will soon replace the British variant (B.1.1.7) in terms of distribution – albeit at a very low overall level. far. This goes from the new English Health Authority report Public Health England (PHE). This effect is offset by the success of the vaccination campaign, which significantly slows down the number of infections.

Advance virus variant B.1.617

So far, the strong spread of B.1.617.2 can only be seen in some areas of the country, but scholars such as mathematician Professor Christina Bagel assume that the Indian variant will soon dominate the whole of Great Britain. She wrote on Twitter: “B.1.617.2 can be detected by direct sequencing or by using the ‘gene S’ in a PCR test (now 99% of it is B.1.617). Both methods now estimate that as of May 15, it will be B.1.617.2. On the cusp of the alternative prevailing in Great Britain. “

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The report also provides preliminary information on the efficacy of vaccines against B. Because the new results of a study conducted by PHE indicate that two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine are needed to ensure strong protection against symptomatic infection with the Indian variant of the Coronavirus.

How important is the second dose

The study showed that protection from vaccination after receiving the second dose was 81% against B.1.617.2, compared to 87% against the dominant variant B.1.1.7 in the past few months. first results It was presented to the government at the meeting of the Advisory Group on New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Risks (Nirvtag). The PHE numbers summarize the vaccination data from BioNTech / Pfizer and Oxford / AstraZeneca.

After the first vaccination, 51% protection against symptomatic infection could be expected for the B.1.1.7 variant, which was previously prevalent in England, but was only 33% for the Indian variant. Thus these results indicate 35% weaker protection against B.1.617.2 compared to B.1.1.7 after only one vaccination. After receiving the second vaccination, scientists were able to calculate a protection rate of 87% for B.1.1.7 – a confirmation of the previously assumed protective effect of 85-90%. An 81 percent protective effect can still be calculated for B.1.617.2 – so the waste is only small here.

There are certain differences between BioNTech dual vaccination and AstraZeneca double vaccination, such as the vaccine that was also introduced. Pre-print Offers. Accordingly, after two doses of BioNTech, B.1.617.2 efficacy was calculated at 87.9%, and after two doses of AstraZeneca it was only 58.8%. That would be an obvious difference. However, many experts point out that the data sets are not comparable: AstraZeneca’s second vaccinations began much later due to the greater booster window and the first British vaccination policy, and the intervals between the second vaccination may be very short.

Only a “very slight decrease” in vaccination protection

Data journalist John Byrne-Murdoch is satisfied with the results on Twitter: “ 81 percent for B.1.617.2 is a very small drop and confidence intervals overlap with a range of 85 to 90 percent, so it’s possible that there is no waste at all. “.

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He sees the loss of protection against B.1.617.2, especially when compared to the data for the South African formula, as a positive. A study from Qatar showed that with the South African variant 1,351, the first dose protected only 17 percent of symptom flare-ups, but after two doses the effect increased to 75 percent.

UK data now shows once again the importance of administering a second dose of the vaccine. As epidemiologist Adam Kucharsky said: “First of all, it is another reminder that the second doses are important. In August / September. The UK will be in a much better position above B.1.617.2, but in the meantime there is a high risk of deportation if it is done. Open it wider. “

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The rapid spread of B.1.617.2 in some areas of England has raised doubts about the country’s schedule to slowly reopen stores, restaurants and public facilities. The next inauguration phase is scheduled to begin on June 21.

Image source: Long Ma, Unsplash