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UK public health officials say they are increasingly confident that vaccines offer significant protection against the delta variant of the coronavirus, a hopeful sign as the highly contagious strain spreads around the world.
Separate studies of researchers in England and Scotland published on Monday found that while protection against infection is somewhat diminished against delta compared to more established variants, two doses of the vaccine offer significant protection against severe illness and hospitalization.
The findings are the latest to suggest that Covid-19 vaccines are able to protect people from new variants, despite early concerns that variants might be able to elude them.
“The efficacy of the vaccine against Delta remains very significant,” said Aziz Sheikh, director of the Usher Institute of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, and lead author of one of the two analyzes.
An analysis of more than 14,000 cases of delta by Public Health England found that a double dose of the shot developed by Pfizer Inc. And BioNTech SE reduces the risk of hospitalization after delta injury by 96%. Public Health England said two doses of the vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca reduce risk by 92%.
A separate study by academics and public health officials in Scotland, published as a letter in the Lancet medical journal, reported reduced vaccine efficacy against delta infections compared to previous strains, but with similar levels of protection against severe disease.
The Covid-19 strain known as Delta is present in at least 60 countries including the United States and is likely to spread worldwide, Covid-19 Genomics UK chief Dr Sharon Peacock told WSJ’s Betsy Mackay at a WSJ Tech Health event.
Two doses of Pfizer’s dose were estimated to reduce the risk of delta, which was first identified in India, by 79%, compared to a 92% reduction for the alpha variant, first discovered last year in England and also known as B.1.1.7. For the shot developed by AstraZeneca, the numbers were 60% and 73%, respectively.
The Scottish analysis estimated that the risk of hospitalization with delta decreased by about 70% after two doses of either vaccine.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday that a planned easing of public health restrictions scheduled for June 21 would be delayed by up to four weeks after cases of the variable delta began to rise rapidly in the country. The caseload currently averages about 7,000 cases a day, three and a half times the rate a month ago, and most of those new cases are caused by deltas.
The government hopes that the delay will provide a window to extend vaccination to younger age groups and to ensure that older people receive the maximum protection that vaccine shots provide. The UK has opted to extend the interval between vaccine doses up to 12 weeks before the pandemic to quickly provide some protection to as many people as possible. In May, the government accepted scientists’ advice that the maximum time period should be shortened to eight weeks for people over 50, health care workers and those with serious health conditions. Mr Johnson said on Monday that a second dose would be given to everyone over 40 by July 19.
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Of the 33,000 delta cases recorded in England, 58% were of unvaccinated individuals, mostly in younger age groups, according to Public Health England. Of the 383 people admitted to hospital, two-thirds had not been vaccinated. Just over a fifth of those admitted, 86, fell ill after just one dose of the vaccine, and those fully vaccinated accounted for only 10% of hospital admissions.
“We have an opportunity to counter this delta variable threat by encouraging uptake of both doses of the vaccine,” Jim McMenamin, national incident manager for Covid-19 at Public Health Scotland, said in a conference call with reporters on Monday.
The delta variant was first detected in India during a towering wave of infections earlier this year. Recent analyzes there similarly indicate that vaccines hold up well against the alternative.
A recent study conducted on health workers at the Christian Medical College in Vellore, southern India, showed that full vaccination protects against severe diseases. The study, conducted between January 21 and April 30, showed that only 9.6% of the 7,080 health care workers who were fully vaccinated became infected. Of them, 64 were hospitalized, four required oxygen support, two were admitted to intensive care and no one died.
The study found that of those who were not vaccinated, 27.2% were infected. The study concluded that full vaccination reduces infection and hospitalization by 65% and 77%, respectively.
About 93.4% of the frontline workers received the AstraZeneca injection, and the rest received Covaxin, a Covid-19 vaccine produced by India’s Bharat Biotech.
Write to Jason Douglas at [email protected] and Suryatapa Bhattacharya at Suryatapa.
Corrections and Amplification Jim McMenamin is the National Incident Manager for Covid-19 at Public Health Scotland. An earlier version of this article incorrectly spelled his last name as McMenamim. (corrected June 14)
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