So where does this leave vaccine passports and the relaxing of self-isolation rules?
Fully vaccinated people carry the same amount of Covid as the unvaccinated and are just as likely to pass it on, a new study has revealed
While scientists had hoped that the double-jabbed would carry a decreased viral load, a study by the University of Oxford shows that is not the case with the Delta variant.
Although the double vaccinated are less likely to pick up Covid in the first place, the study suggests that those individuals are just as likely to pass it on.
“With alpha, people with two doses had really low levels of virus,” said Sarah Walker, professor of medical statistics and epidemiology at Oxford.
“When delta started to come in, the first thing that happened was that the virus values went up and now we really don’t see any difference in the amount of virus people get if they get infected after vaccination.
“Two doses are still protective. You are still less likely to get infected, but if you do you will have similar levels of virus as someone who hasn’t been vaccinated at all.”
Previous studies showed that vaccinated people who contracted the alpha variant had far lower viral loads than the unvaccinated. This formed the basis for much of the government’s Covid campaign, such as vaccine passports and the changes to the NHS Covid App that meant double-jabbed people no longer had to self-isolate.
“People who aren’t yet vaccinated may not be as protected from the delta variant as we hoped,” continues Walker.
“It comes back to this concept of herd immunity, and the hope that the unvaccinated could be protected if we could vaccinate enough people. But I suspect the higher levels of the virus in vaccinated people are consistent with the fact that unvaccinated people are still going to be at high risk.”
Dr Koen Pouwels, a senior researcher at Oxford University’s Nuffield Department of Population Health, said that while vaccinations reduce the chance of people catching Covid, “they do not eliminate it”.
However, vaccines are still the best weapon against people becoming seriously ill with Covid, Walker stated: “There are lots of reasons why the vaccines may be very good at reducing the consequences of having the virus,” she said.
“You may well still have a milder infection and might not end up getting hospitalised.
“While the results are important, they aren’t everything and it is really important to remember the vaccines are super-effective at preventing hospitalisations.”
Related links:
- New Zealand back in lockdown – after single Covid case found
- New Zealand refuses to risk UK-style ‘live with Covid’ policy, says Jacinda Ardern
- New Zealand goes 100 days without a single coronavirus case
