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Someone is pulling up a dose of AstraZeneca's vaccine
Photo: Alessandra Tarantino / AP
According to a British study, the vaccines from Biontech / Pfizer and AstraZeneca prove to be effective against the mutant B.1.617, which is often referred to as the »Indian Corona variant«.
Public Health England (PHE) research published on Saturday found that Biontech's mRNA vaccine was 88 percent effective against symptomatic disease from the Indian variant two weeks after the second dose, while AstraZeneca's vaccine had an effectiveness of 60 percent.
12,675 virus samples were used for the study, of which 1,054 cases were of the Indian variant.
According to PHE, at least 2,889 cases of the Indian variant were recorded in England between February 1 and May 18.
Of these, 104 people were treated in the hospital, six people died.
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock welcomed the results of the study, which he described as "groundbreaking".
The UK government is relying heavily on the vaccination campaign, which is progressing well, but has recently been criticized as the dangerous Indian variant is spreading in the country.
In order to stop their spread, the interval between two vaccine doses for those over 50 and people who are particularly at risk has been shortened from a maximum of three months to eight weeks.
So far, more than seven in ten adults in the UK have received a first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and more than four in ten have already received two doses.
The UK is the hardest hit country in Europe by the pandemic.
More than 127,000 people have died as a result of corona infection since the pandemic began.
Coronavirus variant B.1.617, which was first discovered in India, has already spread to dozens of countries and all continents, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The WHO has classified B.1.617 as "worrying" because the variant could be more contagious and possibly also less sensitive to antibodies.
In view of the worldwide fear of the coronavirus mutant, which was first discovered in India, the New Delhi government is now taking action against the spread of the term "Indian variant" in online media: It requested online platforms to include all content with the term "Indian variant" to delete.
The reason given was that the WHO did not associate variant B.1.617 with a specific country.
mak / AFP
