Covid 19 Vaccination: Effective Against Variants or Not?

Covid 19’ virus has taken a toll on people’s lives all over the world, it is wide spreading and has been propelling out unforeseen challenges for the world to take on. In those days of doom, the vaccines came as a ray of hope to normalize our lives. In the United States, as the vaccination rates went up, the death rates came down. Over time the challenge we are facing is the genetic variants of SARS-CoV-2 which are caused by the mutations in the alpha variant of SARS-CoV-2 originally found in Wuhan, China. The US government organization (SIG) has developed a variant classification scheme and according to their research, the variants of concern in the United States are Beta, Delta, and Gamma.

These variants have proven to have increased transmissibility, lesser neutralization by antibodies received from infection or vaccination in retrospect. Particularly the delta variant that was first originated in India, is proving to be the deadliest of them all and is the cause of the increase in cases across the world. In the United States, this variant is found in all 50 states and is behind 83 percent of the new cases and leading to an upsurge in hospitalizations. This variant has deepened its roots all over the world in which the United Kingdom is suffering the most with 99 % of the new cases reported there, are because of this highly contagious delta variant, as it is estimated to be 60 % more transmissible than the alpha variant.

There are three vaccines currently in use in the United States and are approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), these include Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccines. Now the question arises of the efficiency of the vaccinations against these highly communicable variants of concern. Well, the good news is that many studies conducted for checking the efficiency of these Covid vaccines against the delta virus have given some encouraging results. Studies suggest efficacy rates of 67 percent for the J&J vaccine, 72 to 95 percent for the Moderna vaccine, and 64 to 96 percent for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. These vaccines are the only viable solution to stop these surges and outbreaks, it is also evident from studies that the affected people that need hospitalizations are mostly those who were unvaccinated. These vaccines although are not providing full vaccination against these variants as of now but are responsible for significant risk reduction. Professor Tim Spector from King’s College London commented on this matter,

“Your risk may be an eighth of what it was [after getting vaccinated] but still a considerable number of people will be infected”

Another promising update is that Pfizer and Moderna are in the process of creating a booster dose for previously vaccinated people which will be effective against these new variants while the Janssen Company is working for a second dose as it was previously a one-dose vaccine. A recently found variant named the lambda variant is considered to be a less contagious variant and is addressed as a “cousin of the alpha variant”. These booster shots will be effective in helping us fight against all these variants and we are hopeful for their effectiveness. For more information about the vaccination and help, visit us: www.sosdoctorhousecall.com  OR call at 866 767 6348 and we at SOS Doctors ON-Call will be happy to serve you.