The delta variant is the dominant circulating strain and one of the primary drivers for the second wave of SARS-CoV-2 in India. A variant that replicates better is likely to spread faster, independent of its ability to evade our immune response.
βThe coronavirus delta variant infects both COVID-19 vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.β
The study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai and published in the Journal of Infection.The findings help to explain why vaccinated people have largely escaped the worst of the Delta surge.
Studies have documented reduction in neutralization titres among Covishield and Covaxin recipients after infection with Delta variant. This might be the reason for the breakthrough infections observed in the fully vaccinated individuals.
The study, however, noted that the proportion of patients progressing to severe illness and mortality was lower in the vaccinated groups.
Therefore, non-pharmaceutical interventions must continue to slow down the transmission. The pace and scale of vaccination have to be increased to mitigate the further waves of the pandemic.
Source: Medindia
