AstraZeneca Scientist Says Delta Variant Makes Herd Immunity Impossible. Here's Why

[MisterNiceKitty]

ScienceAlert: https://www.sciencealert.com/delta-variant-means-we-can-rule-out-herd-immunity-says-astra-zeneca-developer

"The Delta variant has changed the equation for achieving herd immunity, the developer of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has said.

Speaking at a UK parliamentary meeting on Tuesday, Sir Andrew Pollard, a professor of pediatric infection and immunity at the University of Oxford, said that achieving herd immunity is "not a possibility" now that the Delta variant is circulating.

"We know very clearly with coronavirus that this current variant, the Delta variant, will still infect people who have been vaccinated, and that does mean that anyone who's still unvaccinated, at some point, will meet the virus," Pollard said.

He said it was unlikely that herd immunity will ever be reached, saying the next variant of the novel coronavirus will be "perhaps even better at transmitting in vaccinated populations".

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Some experts had hoped that herd immunity could be reached with COVID-19, as was the case with measles, which is also highly infectious.

Many countries have achieved herd immunity with measles by vaccinating 95 percent of the population against it, such as the US, where endemic transmission ended in 2000. That is because once a person is vaccinated against measles, they cannot transmit the virus.

With COVID-19, vaccines still fulfill their primary role: protecting against severe disease. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vaccinated people who catch the Delta variant are 25 times less likely to have a severe case or die. The overwhelming majority who do catch it will have mild or no symptoms.

But growing evidence suggests that, with the Delta variant, fully vaccinated people can still transmit the virus.

"We don't have anything which will stop that transmission to other people," Pollard said.

[triron]

1. This is one scientist's opinion. But we should always strive for it nevertheless, with innovative

techniques if necessary.

[Botany]

2. "We don't have anything which will stop that transmission to other people," Pollard said.

[Hugin]

9. +1

The CDC blew that one.

How they thought there was a correlation between an Antibody Titer Test and in the wild transmission is beyond me.

[JohnSJ]

3. Herd immunity will not happen as long as so money people are unvaccinated

[MisterNiceKitty]

7. According to the article, herd immunity will not happen because the new variant(s)

are vaccine resistant

[JohnSJ]

10. The variants arise because of the unvaccinated. The mRNA vaccines can fairly easily be modified

to the variants

[Delphinus]

4. This is the first

story I've read about the science of it, but someone up in Minnesota said recently basically the same thing. I remember wondering when it's going to happen and how they could be so sure the unvaxxed really would get it.

[0rganism]

5. Coronavirus Alpha says...

[durablend]

6. We're *never* getting away from this

[MisterNiceKitty]

8. If we could just try stopping the thing from spreading.

But even if we manage that in one country, there's dozens of other countries where new variants can arise and then spread back to the USA via travel and tourism.

It might mean a coordinated global shutdown (a real one with everyone participating). Not an easy thing to accomplish.

[Calculating]

11. Which will never happen

And even if it did, you'd have covid continue to spread out in the primitive villages somewhere and reinfect society after the shutdown ended. Covid will be with humanity till the end unless we can use genetic engineering to make everyone immune to it or something.

[MisterNiceKitty]

12. I suspect an effort now should focus on a cure

Like an antibiotic for viruses - and that's a real, actual cure not a lifetime treatment marketed as a cure.