By Lauran Neergaard - The Associated Press
A new study by French scientists confirmed that COVID-19 vaccines protect against the delta variant of the coronavirus, a mutation that has spread rapidly around the world and is already the dominant strain in the United States.
In a report published this Thursday in the prestigious scientific journal Nature, researchers from the Pasteur Institute also confirmed that complete vaccination is essential to counteract the effects of the virus.
They analyzed the blood of several dozen people who were given the first dose of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines and found that it "barely inhibited" the delta variant.
Weeks after receiving the second dose, almost everyone had what the scientists considered an immune boost strong enough to neutralize even the delta variant, albeit less potent than against other less contagious and resistant virus mutations.
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The researchers also examined unvaccinated people who had contracted the coronavirus and found that their antibodies were four times less potent against the new strain.
However, they increased dramatically after a single dose of the vaccine was administered, obtaining cross protection against the delta variant and other mutations, according to the study.
This finding reinforces the recommendations of health authorities that people who have passed COVID-19 should also be vaccinated.
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The results of the study support that the delta variant does not escape the effect of the vaccines that are being administered mainly in Western countries, but they emphasize that it is crucial to immunize as many people as possible in the world before another stronger mutation appears.
Scientists in Great Britain, on their side, discovered that two doses of Pfizer's vaccine protect 96% of a person infected with the delta variant being hospitalized and 88% of developing symptoms.
Canadian researchers came to the same conclusions last weekend.
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In the United States, the delta variant is gaining traction in states where vaccination levels are relatively low.
This led the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Rochelle Walensky, to conclude that, while the areas of the country where immunity is high thanks to vaccines are returning to normality, in the rest hospitalizations are increasing and the situation may worsen.
"This rapid increase is worrying," he said.
A few weeks ago, the delta variant represented just over a quarter of the new cases detected in the United States, and now it already exceeds 50%, and in some places, like areas of the Midwest, it reaches 80%.
Thus, the debate on whether fully vaccinated people should wear masks is gaining momentum.
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The CDC maintains that they do not need to. "Let me emphasize, if they were vaccinated they have a very high degree of protection," Anthony Fauci, the government's chief adviser on the coronavirus, insisted on Thursday.
Infections in the country have been increasing for weeks.
However, the number of deaths remains low, something because a large part of the population over 65 is immunized, according to experts.