SAWT BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL

| 28 March 2024, Thursday |

‘Mythical’: Herd immunity not possible with Delta variant, claims scientist

Achieving herd immunity is “not a possibility” with the current spread of the Delta variant, warned a group of scientists, which is considered a disappointment to many who hoped for “herd immunity” to kick in and protect the world against the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

Prof Sir Andrew Pollard, the head of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said that the fact that vaccines have been unable to stop the spread of Covid proves that achieving herd immunity is now a “mythical” concept.

“The problem with this virus is [it is] not measles. If 95% of people were vaccinated against measles, the virus cannot transmit in the population,” he told the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on coronavirus. “The Delta variant will still infect people who have been vaccinated. And that does mean that anyone who’s still unvaccinated at some point will meet the virus … and we don’t have anything that will [completely] stop that transmission.”

It was also stressed upon that the existing vaccines are effective against coronavirus, but may not be able to prevent even fully vaccinated people from getting infected by the virus.

His warning has also come after a recent study by the Imperial College London showed that people between the age group of 18 to 64 have a 49 per cent lower risk of getting infected by coronavirus when compared to unvaccinated people. In addition to this, the researchers also added that fully vaccinated people have nearly half as much of a chance for testing positive, as unvaccinated people.