Research shows vaccinees are just as infectious as those without Covid-19 protection

The research involved 621 people in the UK with mild Covid infections and found that people who have received two doses of a vaccine can still transmit this infection to vaccinated and unvaccinated household members.

While the infections in the vaccinated people cleared up more quickly, their viral load, the degree of infectivity for the two cohorts was similar.

The study found that vaccinated household contacts are less likely to suffer from a breakthrough infection compared to their unvaccinated counterparts, but not to a massive extent – around 25% of vaccinated household members subsequently tested positive for the virus after close contact with a confirmed case compared to 38% for the unvaccinated cohort.

These figures seem to confirm that Delta has a greater ability to break down a vaccine’s defenses compared to its predecessors, although it is not more effective at causing serious illness in vaccinees.

“Our results show that vaccination alone is not enough to prevent people from becoming infected with the Delta variant and spreading it in households,” said Professor Ajit Lalvani of Imperial College London, co- responsible for the study.

“The continued transmission that we see between vaccinated people makes it essential for unvaccinated people to get vaccinated to protect themselves against infection and severe Covid-19, especially as more and more people will spend time indoors nearby during the winter months, ”he said. noted.

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Le professeur Lalvani a également déclaré que les résultats de l’étude ont souligné l’importance des injections de rappel pour ceux dont l’immunité vaccinale a commencé à décliner avec le temps, la durée médiane depuis la vaccination pour ceux qui ont été infectés étant de 37 jours de plus que pour ceux qui ont résisté à l’infection. .

« Nous avons constaté que la sensibilité à l’infection augmentait déjà quelques mois après la deuxième dose de vaccin – les personnes éligibles aux injections de rappel de Covid-19 devraient donc les recevoir rapidement », a-t-il déclaré.

L’étude a identifié ses 621 participants, qui avaient tous une infection bénigne ou étaient asymptomatiques, via le système britannique de recherche des contacts entre septembre 2020 et septembre 2021.