Vaccines and the Indian variant. The latest British research

Two doses of vaccines from Pfizer / BioNTech and AstraZeneca are effective in preventing the Indian variant of the coronavirus, although the level of protection is clearly lower after one dose, according to a study conducted in the UK.

Both after one and both doses, the degree of protection is also slightly lower than that of the British variant, which is the predominant one in Great Britain.

As reported by the government agency Public Health England (PHE), the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine two weeks after the administration of the second dose reduced the number of symptomatic infections with the Indian variant by 88%, while in the case of the British variant it is 93%, while in the case of two doses of AstraZeneki vaccine it was respectively 60 percent. and 66 percent As PHE explained, the lower rates for AstraZeneca are due to the fact that it offers maximum effectiveness after more than two weeks.

However, after giving one dose, both after three weeks give only 33 percent. protection, while in the case of the British variant – 50 percent. Moderna vaccines are also used in the UK, but since they only started giving them in April, they were not included in this study.

British Health Minister Matt Hancock said on Sunday that the results of the study increased his confidence that on June 21 the rest of the restrictions in England could be lifted as planned. In view of the increasing number of cases of the British variant, over the past week the UK government has decided that in areas identified as outbreaks of the Indian variant, the period between the first and second doses will be reduced from 12 to eight weeks.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, the British government announced that the total number of vaccines administered nationwide has already exceeded 60 million. Until Saturday, almost 60.6 million were administered, of which over 37.9 million were the first doses, and over 22.6 million – the second doses. On Saturday, over 762,000 were vaccinated in total with the first and second doses. people, which is the second highest balance since vaccination began.

Over the past day, 2,235 new coronavirus infections have been detected and five new deaths from Covid-19 have been registered. The total epidemic in Great Britain is over 4.46 million confirmed infections and 127,721 deaths.

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