Really clear overviee of the different prifiles of the variants

[Nootkah]

www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/news/coronavirus-and-your-health/covid-variant

This sets out really clearly the different characteristics of the four main variants (Indian, South African, Kent, Brazilian) in terms of transmissability , likelihood to cause severe disease, and effectiveness of vaccines.

Great info. Thanks

Not very popular on here I see

It's a good summary - thanks for posting.

A couple of points to note - big difference between the evidence where it's been possible to study vaccine efficacy against a variant (e.g. with the Delta variant) and where we're limited to test tube studies (e.g. the Gamma variant), but fortunately the latter isn't significant in the UK.

Secondly, where it states that against the Delta variant, the vaccine is only 33% effective - it means against stopping symptomatic disease. This is bad news as far as transmission goes, because the two tend to go hand-in-hand. If you can get sick enough to show symptoms, you are likely to be contagious....

BUT - it doesn't mean that you have only 33% protection against serious illness! It means that your vaccinated immune system will be slower at stopping this variant than the Alpha variant, so symptoms show before you can eliminate it, BUT a slower response can still result in high protection against serious illness. We don't have full data yet, but anencdotally, from hospital admissions, it's clear that the bulk of them are totally unvaccinated people.

In short, if you're under 50, there's no real need to panic about getting that second jab done.

Thanks OP that's really helpful.

I will read that later.

“ In short, if you're under 50, there's no real need to panic about getting that second jab done.”

I wouldn’t want people to be left with the impression they don’t need their second jab strangeshapedpotato

Because as you said “vaccine is only 33% effective..against stopping symptomatic disease. This is bad news as far as transmission goes”

The sooner everyone can get their second doses, the more chance we have of reducing spread of any new variants.

Two doses of Pfizer are 88% effective against symptomatic disease and for Astra Zeneca it is 60%.

Definitely need second dose

I'm in Wales, 50 and, like a lot of people, not been called for second dose. We can't book ourselves.

“ In short, if you're under 50, there's no real need to panic about getting that second jab done.”

That is really, really super bad advice. Everyone should be getting their second dose when it's due. And if you're offered it earlier than 12 weeks after your first, better still.

I wonder when they’ll announce the AZ efficacy at 4+ weeks after the second jab. If it’s true that it’s a slow burner (i.e takes longer to take full effect than Pfizer) then that % gap should narrow considerably.

All the more reason for AZ second doses to be done sooner rather than later. Get those antibodies kicked in asap.

www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/uk-analysis-finds-two-doses-astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine-85-90-effective-2021-05-20/

Will be interesting to see how the Vietnam and the Nepal turn out.

@everythingthelighttouches

“ In short, if you're under 50, there's no real need to panic about getting that second jab done.”

I wouldn’t want people to be left with the impression they don’t need their second jab strangeshapedpotato

Because as you said “vaccine is only 33% effective..against stopping symptomatic disease. This is bad news as far as transmission goes”

The sooner everyone can get their second doses, the more chance we have of reducing spread of any new variants.

Two doses of Pfizer are 88% effective against symptomatic disease and for Astra Zeneca it is 60%.

Definitely need second dose

This.

Also the risk of hospitalisation increases at 45, not 50, and lots of under 45/50s have underlying conditions.

Remember too the risks of Long Covid (including the potential organ damage). It's not just about hospitalisation and death.

Thank you OP for the link.

@NannyAndJohn

Will be interesting to see how the Vietnam and the Nepal turn out.

I don't know about Nepal but hopefully the variant found in Vietnam won't spread far.

Vietnam have been very hot on getting on top of things - taking swift action to contain any spread.

It's less likely to get here in any meaningful numbers... because Vietnam's borders are shut to all but the most essential travel (with real quarantine). Consequently there are only very limited flights to and from Vietnam.

The difference between the UK and Vietnam is stark. We have more than 130,000 dead. Vietnam has around 50.