Delta variant would spread as easily as chickenpox 0:50
(CNN) -
Vaccination alone will not stop the emergence of new variants and, in fact, could fuel the evolution of strains that evade its protection, researchers warned Friday.
The scientists said that people should wear masks and take other steps to prevent the spread until almost everyone in a population has been vaccinated.
ANALYSIS |
Biden Opens New Front in Covid-19 Vaccination War As Delta Variant Concerns Deepen
Their findings, published in Nature Scientific Reports, support an unpopular decision by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to again advise the use of masks in areas of sustained or high transmission, even for people. vaccinated.
"When most people are vaccinated, the vaccine-resistant strain has an advantage over the original strain," Simon Rella from the Austrian Institute of Science and Technology, who worked on the study, told reporters.
"This means that the vaccine-resistant strain spreads through the population more quickly at a time when most people are vaccinated."
But if so-called non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as the use of masks and social distancing, are maintained, the virus is less likely to spread and change.
"There is a possibility of eliminating vaccine-resistant mutations from the population," Rella said.
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The team used a mathematical model to predict these changes, but their findings follow what is known about the epidemiology of viruses and what is known as selective pressure, the force that drives any organism to evolve.
Leaked CDC document shows delta variant is much more contagious and could cause more serious illness
The findings suggest that lawmakers should resist the temptation to lift restrictions to celebrate or reward vaccination efforts.
This is likely to be especially true with a more transmissible variant like the delta variant, said Fyodor Kondrashov, also from the Austrian Institute of Science and Technology.
"In general, the more people are infected, the greater the chances of resistance to the vaccine emerging. Therefore, the more infectious delta is, the more cause for concern," Kondrashov told reporters.
"By having a situation where everyone is vaccinated, a vaccine resistant mutation actually gets a selective advantage."
On Tuesday, the US CDC revised its guidance on wearing face masks.
The CDC said earlier this year that fully vaccinated people are very safe from infection and can remove masks in most situations.
Now, he says that even fully vaccinated people can sometimes contract the virus and if they do contract the delta variant, they are as likely to infect another person as an unvaccinated person would be.
He advised all people in areas of high or sustained virus transmission to wear masks when around other people.
Many Republican politicians have scoffed at the new council.
On Thursday, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves called him "dumb."
Biden announced that federal employees should be vaccinated and proposed offering US $ 100 to those who get vaccinated against covid-19
While the CDC wasn't thinking about the evolution of variants, Kondrashov said people skeptical of keeping watch should be.
"The person who has already been vaccinated and has put on a mask should not think that this is useless, but should think that there is a vaccine resistant strain running around," he said.
"By preventing the spread of vaccine-resistant strains, the evolution of this virus is prevented," he added.
"We have two tools in our toolbox to do this. One is non-pharmaceutical interventions like wearing face masks and the whole thing, and the second is vaccines. From an evolutionary perspective, what is needed to reduce this (spread ) is to vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as possible and around the world. "
Delta variant
