{"id":116943,"date":"2021-08-10T15:59:29","date_gmt":"2021-08-10T22:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=116943"},"modified":"2021-08-10T15:59:29","modified_gmt":"2021-08-10T22:59:29","slug":"herd-immunity-not-a-possibility-with-delta-variant-says-vaccines-expert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/08\/10\/herd-immunity-not-a-possibility-with-delta-variant-says-vaccines-expert\/","title":{"rendered":"Herd immunity ‘not a possibility’ with Delta variant, says vaccines expert"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sophie Morris, political reporter Courtesy Skynews<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Herd immunity is “not a possibility” because the Delta variant is still spreading fast and infecting fully vaccinated people, the head of the Oxford Vaccine Group has said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"a<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00a9 PA Sir Andrew told MPs ‘anyone still unvaccinated at some point will meet the virus’
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Sir Andrew Pollard told MPs in the All-Party Parliamentary Group on coronavirus that although 95% vaccination would stop transmission of measles, the same was not true for COVID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He warned that this means “anyone still unvaccinated at some point will meet the virus”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a9 PA Sir Andrew said the vaccine might slow the spread of the Delta variant but won’t contain it altogether<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herd immunity is when enough people become resistant to a disease – through vaccination or previous exposure – that it can no longer significantly spread among the rest of the population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sir Andrew said the vaccine might slow the spread of coronavirus, but as the Delta variant – first identified in India – is highly transmissible, jabs will not contain it altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

____________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More on coronavirus:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Download the Microsoft News app for full coverage of the crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The evolutionary journey that Covid could take (The Independent)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why are experts holding off vaccinating under-16s in UK? (The Guardian)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

____________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We know very clearly with coronavirus that this current variant, 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,” he told MPs.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I think we are in a situation here with this current variant where herd immunity is not a possibility because it still infects vaccinated individuals.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sir Andrew said the next thing might be “a variant which is even better at transmitting in vaccinated populations”, adding: “So, that’s even more of a reason not to be making a vaccine programme around herd immunity.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a9 PA The UK recorded its highest daily COVID deaths since March on Tuesday<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the Oxford Vaccine Group director also said there was likely to be “increasing confidence” about the UK’s coronavirus situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told the APPG: “I think this next six months is a really important consolidation phase and in that shift from the epidemic to the endemic, which is the living with COVID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“That doesn’t mean that we live with it and put up with it – we still have to manage those cases of patients who become unwell with it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sir Andrew’s comments come as the UK reported its highest daily COVID deaths since March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were 23,510 new cases and 146 more coronavirus-related deaths in the latest 24-hour period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The figures compare with 25,161 infections and 37 fatalities reported on Monday, while last Tuesday 21,691 cases and 138 deaths were announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of deaths is the highest since 175 were reported on 12 March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the pandemic began,130,503 people have died in the UK within 28 days of testing positive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00a9 PA The government says three quarters of adults are now fully vaccinated<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government also announced on Tuesday that more than three quarters of adults in the UK have now received both doses of a vaccine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Health and Social Care said a total of 86,780,455 jabs had now been administered, with 89% of people having received a first dose and 75% two doses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prime Minister Boris Johnson described it as “a huge national achievement which we should all be proud of”, while Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the vaccine was “helping us to work our way out of this pandemic towards normal”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stay alert to stop coronavirus spreading – here is the latest government guidance<\/a>. If you think you have the virus, don’t go to the GP or hospital, stay indoors and get advice online<\/a>. Only call NHS 111<\/a> if you cannot cope with your symptoms at home; your condition gets worse; or your symptoms do not get better after seven days. In parts of Wales<\/a> where 111 isn’t available, call NHS Direct on 0845 46 47. In Scotland<\/a> anyone with symptoms is advised to self-isolate for seven days. In Northern Ireland<\/a>, call your GP.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sophie Morris, political reporter Courtesy Skynews Herd immunity is “not a possibility” because the Delta variant is still spreading fast and infecting fully vaccinated people, the head of the Oxford Vaccine Group has said. \u00a9 PA Sir Andrew told MPs ‘anyone still unvaccinated at some point will meet the virus’ Professor Sir Andrew Pollard told MPs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116943\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}