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Oxford University says levels of Covid can still be transmitted by people who are double jabbed
According to the Sky News, scientists at the University of Oxford found levels of the virus could be just as high in people who get COVID despite having both jabs as in those who haven't been vaccinated.
The Sky News reported that Dr Koen Pouwels, one of the lead researchers of the study, said: "The vaccines are better at preventing severe disease and are less effective at preventing transmission.
"The fact that you see more viral load (with the Delta variant) hints towards herd immunity being more challenging."
According to the Sky News, scientists from the COVID-19 Infection Survey have conducted regular PCR tests on more than 700,000 randomly selected people since December last year.
Until mid-May, when the Alpha variant was the dominant form of the virus, the vaccines were highly effective at stopping infections.
But since then, a period when the more infectious Delta variant has dominated, the vaccines have been less able to block the virus.
The Sky News reported, citing professor Sarah Walker, Chief Investigator for the Survey, said: "We don't yet know how much transmission can happen from people who get COVID-19 after being vaccinated - for example, they may have high levels of virus for shorter periods of time.
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"But the fact that they can have high levels of virus suggests that people who aren't yet vaccinated may not be as protected from the Delta variant as we hoped."
According to Dr Alexander Edwards, Associate Professor in Biomedical Technology at the University of Reading, "it does remain vital to remember that even if double jabbed, you can still get infected and pass the virus on."
Prof Paul Hunter, Professor in Medicine at the University of East Anglia, said: "There is now quite a lot of evidence that all vaccines are much better at reducing the risk of severe disease than they are at reducing the risk from infection.
"The main value of immunisation is in reducing the risk of severe disease and death and the evidence available shows that protection lasts longer against severe disease than against mild disease and all current UK vaccines are very good at this even against the Delta variant."
Source: skynews
